


Hold Me Close

by LaDeeDa



Series: The Mates Trilogy [3]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Anal Sex, Blow Jobs, Collars, Dom/sub, Dominance, Drama & Romance, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Gay Sex, Hand Jobs, Lesbian Sex, M/M, Marking, Master/Slave, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mild Gore, Mildly Dubious Consent, Multi, Multiple Orgasms, Multiple Pairings, Omega Verse, Oral Sex, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, Original Universe, Porn With Plot, Public Sex, Punishment, Romance, Rough Sex, Sex, Sex Toys, Size Difference, Size Kink, Spanking, Submission, Teen Romance, Trans Character, Trans Female Character, Vampires, Werewolves, Wolves
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-03
Updated: 2019-05-29
Packaged: 2019-06-01 12:41:39
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 38,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15143306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaDeeDa/pseuds/LaDeeDa
Summary: The second part in 'The Mates Trilogy', continuing straight on from the end of 'Make Me Beg'.Markus has always taken his mate for granted, he's there for when Markus needs to unload and unwind and can be shoo'd away when he is not needed. But what if someone threatened to take him away?  A certain charming vampire is causing the hard-headed teen alpha a head ache, but more painfully, heart ache.Updates every Thursday!For artwork and updates on Make Me Beg, check out my twitter: @LaDeeDa66962526





	1. PROLOGUE

The guards barely gave Sam a second look as he entered the justice office, he had made a habit of bringing items to their only prisoner for a couple of weeks. They allowed it, all under the presumption that someone high up had ordered him to do so. He never brought luxuries, only simple meals, small bars of soap or the occasional fresh set of clothes. At first they had accompanied him down but they soon grew bored of watching the omega slide small items to the cell while the prisoner either ignored him or made snarky remarks. He passed by the desks, piled high with binders and forms, and pulled open the door to the steep staircase leading to the cells. He edged down them more carefully than usual, taking all eighty-two steps one at a time until he reached another door into the main prison area.

Once inside he closed the door quietly behind him and walked to the bars. Brandon shifted on his single mattress lying on the floor, peering over his shoulder at his visitor. He huffed and rolled over, staring at Sam with a look of annoyance. He had healed quickly, Sam noted, although wolves usually did, Karliah had done such a number on him many thought he would be permanently disfigured. He was still covered in green and yellow bruises and his face still had a slightly swollen appearance but he also still had the sour facial expressions Sam had come to know well. He stood by the bars, waiting for Brandon to acknowledge him. It took a few minutes but eventually the beta sat up with a grunt, pulled himself up off the floor and trudged slowly towards the front of his cell, keeping a metre’s distance between them.

Sam watched him blankly, keeping his expression neutral.

“What do you want, omega?” He growled.

“I don’t want anything,” Sam blinked, “I’m just here to tie up some loose ends.” he tilted his head just a little, playing up his omega charms. Brandon mulled over his words for a moment,

“Is that a threat?” he huffed.

“Would an omega threaten you?” Sam asked innocently. Brandon scoffed and strutted to the bars confidently, pressing his face against them.

“You wouldn’t have the balls to go through with anything anyway.” He sneered, Sam smiled sweetly and shot his hand out, the paring knife tucked in his sleeve slid out easily and jammed itself into Brandon’s neck, just above his collar bone. The beta froze, wide-eyed and disbelieving for a moment, staring down at Sam who grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him in closer, until his lips were by his ear and whispered,

“Does it really matter what I said when they will never believe what I did?” Brandon gurgled in reply, staggering back, blood spreading quickly down his top in all directions, soaking into the material easily. It dribbled from his mouth as he tried to breath, unsettling, wet, raspy breaths. He choked on the blood in his throat and coughed it up in spatters, his body lurching forward before teetering back again, his arms flailing. Sam stepped away as he began to claw at the knife, finally wrenching it out of his neck, only to cause more blood to spurt out of the gaping hole. Squelches and gurgles filled the room as Brandon frantically stumbled around his cell, gasping for air, Sam ignored him and left, the sounds quickly quieting as he climbed the stairs out to the office and then finally out into the brisk-but-fresh air. He sucked it in heavily through his nose, hoping to clear the stomach-churning smell of blood that still lingered inside.


	2. CHAPTER ONE

7 Days Earlier

 

"But... You're my mate." Karliah spoke as though she were in a daze, utterly bewildered at what she was hearing. "You're mine... You can't... I really..." She looked so hurt, it made Cassie feel even worse. She had taken this decision very seriously and thought it over carefully.

 

"I know and I love you so much." She reassured, taking her mate's large hands in her own.

 

"Then why-"

 

"Because I love him too." Cassie whispered sadly, "And you don't understand what he gets put through there, what he gets put through by his own mate!" she stared up into those sweet silver eyes and sighed. "I'm sorry, but you owe him and it's not like it's for long!"

 

"YEARS, Cassie!" Karliah stressed, sliding her hands up the smaller girl's arms and gripping her firmly. "Why can't he come live here?"

 

"Markus would never allow that!" Cassie cried.

 

"Why don't I speak to him?" Karliah released her arms, trailing her fingers up her shoulders and neck before finally resting them on her cheeks in an attempt to comfort her, convince her, sway her even just a little.

 

"No! Then he'll know that you know which means he'll know that I know!"

 

"So?" Karliah tried to sound soothing, rubbing circles with her thumbs on her mate's soft skin.

 

"So, he will say no to you and then make Sam's life even worse because he'll assume that he's been telling people!" She whined, using her cute voice to her full advantage. "Please?"

 

"I don't know why you're saying 'please', it's not like I get a vote in this anyway." Karliah grumbled. Cassie placed her hands over hers, nuzzling into them gently.

 

"You do get a vote, I'm just counting my vote as two." She smiled cheekily, knowing that she had won. Karliah rolled her eyes and pulled Cassie's face forward to rub their noses together.

 

"I love you so much," She whispered sadly, "and I'm going to miss you every moment you're even a centimetre away from me." Cassie didn't have to open her mouth for Karliah to know she felt the same way. Her deep green eyes reflected her emotions like a mirror.

 

~

 

"I love you so much, and I'm going to miss you every moment you're even a centimetre away from me.” Cassie sighed. She didn't want to go back and stay with her pack, as much as she loved her family and friends there, once a sub was marked they were expected to follow their dom to their pack and live together. Mates needed to be together, it made them stronger. The further apart they were the weaker they became. Since being marked, she had spent the last few weeks living in the Lunar Warriors pack house. But she couldn't leave Sam alone, he had always been her number one supporter, her most enthusiastic cheerleader and more importantly, her most trusted confidant. He had Charles but not for long, soon he would return to his own home and Sam would be left with no one. But Cassie had a plan, she would return and stay in her pack until the end of school, once they were officially adults and could move packs as they pleased without parental permission or a mark of a current member, and then she would help Sam escape, hopefully with Charles (if she could rope him in to help - which she planned to do soon) and he could live happily ever after and so could she. Charles would give him the love Markus never could. But she couldn't leave him till then, the pack was too cruel, he needed someone to vent to, someone to help him with his chores in secret, he needed a friend to get him through it. He was beyond a brother to her, and not just because she owed him her life. "Promise me you'll spend every second you can over here, I want you to get used to my pack so you feel comfortable in your home when you move here permanently." Cassie blushed at the thought of Karliah's home being her home, it felt so fast but so right. That was cheesy, she thought.

 

"I promise." She stood on her toes to close the gap between their faces and plant a chaste kiss on her mate's lips. Karliah sighed,

 

"You'd better, or I'll put you over my desk just like when we first met." She growled.

 

"Is THAT a promise?" Cassie teased.

 

"Definitely." Karliah grinned, slamming her lips down the the brunette's roughly and quickly invading her mouth with her tongue, curling around Cassie's and sucking on it lightly. Cassie moaned softly, her hands grasping Karliah's shirt, pulling their bodies together so that every inch was connected. Karliah bit at her bottom lip, tasting her and savouring her flavour. She gave a little nibble back, feeling shy at the thought of trying to be dominant, Karliah chuckled and bit her again, harder. Cassie whined, pulling at the taller girl's top. Karliah used her own hands to turn Cassie's head, still holding her by the cheeks, and reveal her mark. She could feel her mate's pulse beneath it without laying a finger down on the skin. She kissed her way down Cassie's neck to the base of her throat, enjoying the hitched breath and tensed muscles that always came with getting close to her mark, Cassie's wolf was excited, barely able to contain itself as it waited for her to touch the mark. She circled it with her nose, teasing her skin, blowing her breaths directly onto it just to feel her shiver.

 

"Please!" Cassie whined, twisting futilely.

 

"Mmhmm." Karliah replied, before latching onto the dark symbol and sucking on it hard.

 

"Ah! AAAAH!" Cassie cried out, gripping at the shoulders above her and pressing her forehead into Karliah's neck. Whenever her mark was touched by her mate it sent her body into sensory overload. Pleasure seared through her, soaking her underwear and causing her knees to buckle. Karliah used the opportunity to push her back, letting her weak legs drop her onto the edge of the desk, her feet dangling either side of Karliah’s knees. The buttons running down the centre of her dress were quickly undone and the material slipped off her shoulders and draped over the back of Karliah’s leather wheelie chair. “Hey,” Cassie whined, “why am I always the one whose clothes disappear first?” she pulled up the alpha’s black tee but she could only get it to her arm pits before she wasn’t tall enough to get it any further. Karliah helped her out, tugging the soft top off and catapulting it into a tall leafy plant in the corner of the office.

 

“Clearly, it’s because you’re too little to get my clothes off!” Karliah laughed teasingly, pinching her mate’s cheeks gently.

 

“You told me I was the perfect size yesterday when we were cuddling!” Cassie pouted.

 

“You are the perfect size!” Both their bras were discarded. “Perfectly teeny!” Karliah massaged Cassie’s breasts, pulling at the tiny beaded nipples and watching her keen both at the hands playing with her and the compliments being showered over her. “You’re so adorable it hurts to look at you for too long.” Cassie blushed, even though Karliah said such sickly sweet things all the time these days it still had the same effect on her - she didn’t think she would ever get used to it.

 

The hands teasing her plump breasts slowly felt heir way down to her waist… her hips… the line of her underwear… They were wet from Cassie’s arousal and Karliah slid her fingers over her crotch, coating her fingers in it before licking them slowly and seductively, never breaking eye contact with Cassie.

 

“Have I told you how much I love the taste of your cunt?”

 

“Only every day since you marked me.” Cassie rolled her eyes. Her lace bikini-briefs were ripped off so fast she jumped with a gasp. “H-hey! You already owe me, like, ten pairs of new knickers!”

 

“I can’t help it,” Karliah laughed, “you have no idea how hot it is to rip a girl’s panties off!” she pushed Cassie’s legs further apart and stepped in closer. Cassie shivered with anticipation as her mate’s hands tickled at the insides of her knees, slid up her inner thighs and ghosted around her vulva, close enough to make her even more aroused, but not enough to give her any relief. She watched Karliah with half-lidded eyes and the alpha paused, their eyes locked until a hand shot forward and slid a finger into her. Cassie’s eyes shut involuntarily at the feeling and a breathy moan fell from her lips. Karliah pulled he lone finger out halfway and slammed it back in.

 

“Ah!” Cassie’s legs jolted from the pleasure, but she wanted more. Karliah used her second hand to stroke at Cassie’s inner lips, sliding up and down the warm and slippery flesh. She was avoiding Cassie’s clit, she was sure - deliberately teasing her! The alpha leaned in to press her lips to Cassie’s ear.

 

“Who knew it was possible to get this,” She slammed two fingers in. “wet,” And again. “from a little bit of kissing?” She sped up her thrusting fingers, curling the tips to graze her g-spot and send waves of pleasure through her. Cassie whimpered, her g-spot felt like it was pounding inside of her.

 

“M-my mark!” She cried out, “Yo-you touched my mark…” she took a shuddering breath as the second hand slid up to rub a her clit. “Oh-oh goddess…” She curled into Karliah, grabbing her boobs and squeezing them, rubbing her fingers roughly over her nipples. “Hah! Ah!” Karliah pinched ever so lightly at her clit before slamming a third finger in. “I-I-Ah!”

 

“What is it, baby?” Karliah asked with the worst ‘fake innocence’ Cassie had ever heard. She had to take a couple of shaky breaths before she could get her thoughts together to reply as the hands continued relentlessly, thrusting and massaging at her most sensitive areas.

 

“I… I want y-yooouuu!” She moaned, her hips jerking forward towards the fingers pounding into her.

 

“So soon?” Karliah teased.

 

“N-Now!”

 

“Ooh, I like it when you’re bossy!” Karliah laughed and pulled her fingers out, giving them the slow, tantalizing lick that is customary whenever they enter her mate - she can never seem to waste a drop, something Cassie both found odd and and sexy at the same time. The long digits were quickly replaced by a long, hard member.

 

Karliah slammed into her with the usual ferocity, Cassie had made it very clear she preferred Karliah’s rough and hard style to the soft and slow approach she sometimes tried. Cassie flung her head back in satisfaction, a cry bursting from her with much more volume than she expected. With each thrust she came further undone, panting and trembling as she moaned encouragement to her mate.

 

“Oh god, yes, yes,yes!” Cassie’s legs spasmed either side of Karliah’s hips, trembling almost to the point of vibration as she screamed under her. “Please! There!” Her mouth fell open, eyes closed with her face buried in Karliah’s neck, clinging to her with her tiny hands. “There! There!” Her voice was muffled but Karliah could still understand her perfectly and continued to hit that spot over and over, driving in deep and hard. “Pleeaase!”

 

“God, I love it when you beg.” She groaned, never slowing her thrusts. Cassie continued to sob brokenly, her legs jerking in time with the bursts of pleasure. All too quickly the sensations were too much for her little body to handle,

 

“I-I can’t!” she panted, “I’m gonn-na!” Karliah squeezed harder at her skin but didn’t stop.

 

“Go on, baby.” She groaned, “Come for me.”

 

Cassie screamed brokenly. Karliah followed with a groan, still rocking her hips in and out, wordlessly informing Cassie that they were far from finished.

 

~

 

3 Days Earlier

They still hadn't had their bonding ceremony yet, usually if the sub was already marked there was no point, but as the soon-to-be alpha of one of the biggest packs in the country, Karliah knew her bonding ceremony was an important way to bring together the most important people in the area, while stroking their egos and potentially dividing them into 'Allies', 'Enemies' and 'Neutral' groups in her head for future reference. It kind of ruined the romance of it when everything was about politics and status but she tried to enjoy the preparations anyway.

 

They had just about finalised their guest list and soon would be sending out their invites, although that didn't really feel like a good thing when Karliah knew that next came the table plans which would bring a whole host of new problems with it. Trying to remember which packs got along and which didn't was so tedious and confusing.

 

The pair were curled up on the sofa in Karliah’s bedroom, pages and pages of plans spread across the coffee table as they had yet another meeting to discuss their choices and ideas. Karliah sighed sadly, the sound squeezed Cassie’s heart.

 

“What’s wrong?” She asked, “Are you not excited for our bonding ceremony?” she crawled further up into her lap and placed her hands on her lightly tanned cheeks. Karliah pulled a face, trying to turn away but struggling with her face clamped between Cassie’s hands.

 

“Of course, I’m excited to be officially bonded to you…” She huffed, clearly unsure of whether to continue. “It’s just… my mother…” Cassie watched her carefully, waiting her out. She had learned that Karliah would relinquish her thoughts when given enough time. “She wants me to wear a dress… for the ceremony…” Cassie tried to picture Karliah in a dress, she had never seen her wear anything but trousers and tank tops, she had worn a women’s suit to the winter ball and Cassie had assumed she would wear something similar for their bonding ceremony.

 

“And you don’t want to?” Cassie tried not to show any expression on her face, she didn’t want Karliah to feel swayed by her opinion. She thought Karliah would look stunning in a dress…

 

“I don’t know, I guess I just feel like dresses are a bit… much…” She rolled her eyes, “Is that stupid? I feel like my style being less feminine somehow cancels out my gender dysphoria, like just cause I don’t want to wear fake eyelashes then my womanhood is false…”

 

“That’s not true at all! If I decided to start wearing trousers,” She shuddered at the thought, Cassie lived purely in skirts and dresses, she had worn trousers once in the last ten years and that was only because a creepy guy had grabbed her and left marks on her thighs. She didn’t do shorts, she didn’t do pant-suits and she definitely didn’t do jeans. “that wouldn’t make me a dude! Clothes are just for show, but you don’t need them to show people you’re female, it protrudes from you!” She winked and poked Karliah’s boobs with her index fingers. “Your femininity comes from you as a person, not the way your clothes sewn together, it’s all just material - who cares?” Karliah rolled her eyes with a half-grin,

 

“Thanks, babe.” she paused, looking away nervously. “So, would you mind repeating that to my mum?”

 

“Of course not,” Cassie kissed the tip of her nose. “we both know your mum loves me best anyway.” She teased with a soft giggle. Karliah bumped their foreheads together and returned the laugh.

 

“Very true, although I like to think I have earned myself some bonus points for having marked you - I am definitely a strong second place!”

 

“See, that’s another reason you’re so lucky to have siblings - my mum loves you best but that puts me in instant last place!”

 

“Speaking of…” Karliah switched the subject slyly. “has your mum taken you shopping for your ceremony dress?”

 

“If she had I wouldn’t tell you!”

 

“Why not? I’m not asking for pictures! I just want to know how far behind I am!” Karliah laughed, squeezing her in close and kissing up her neck, obviously trying to soften her up but Cassie was having none of it.

 

“Nope, that’s between me and my mummy - as it should be for any young lady preparing for her bonding!”

 

“Fine, I’ll take that as a yes then…” They grinned at each other and shared a slow, soft kiss before continuing on with their planning.

 

~

 

Present

 

Cassie lounged in Karliah's lap like a cat, her legs curled up against her while her body slouched against the alpha's chest, watching her mate's hands fill out forms and paperwork. She loved to keep her company when she was working, she couldn't imagine the level of pressure Karliah felt at knowing one day she would have to succeed her father and take on all the responsibilities of her pack. It was a large pack, especially compared to the others in the area, Cassie knew her pack rivalled Lunar Warriors for the title of biggest pack but she didn't know for sure which had more members.

 

She heard a soft sigh above her and looked up to see Karliah rubbing at the bridge of her nose, eyes tightly shut and a frown on her face.

 

"Maybe you should take a break." Cassie suggested, bringing one hand up to rub at the back of her mate's neck comfortingly. Karliah 'mmm'd in reply and kept her eyes shut as she relaxed into the small hand at the nape of her neck, massaging away her stress. After a couple of minutes she finally opened her eyes, looking down at Cassie adoringly,

 

"I love you." she smiled sadly, "I'm sorry I'm always cooped up working."

 

"Don't be," Cassie sat up carefully, "I'm sorry you're under so much pressure." she kissed the tip of Karliah's nose. "I worry about you."

 

"You don't have to worry about me," Karliah reassured, "it'll get easier, once I'm out of school I'll have plenty of time and will have hopefully memorised everything by then…” Cassie smiled up at her blissfully, holding her gaze for a moment before snuggling back into her, enjoying the warmth.

 

~

 

A frantic knock on the office door pulled them out of their thoughts barely half an hour later. Karliah pulled a face and Cassie laughed quietly.

 

“Come in!” The alpha called. Cassie shivered at the sound of her authoritative tone, she couldn’t help the affect her mate’s dominant attitude had on her.

 

“Alpha.” It was Damien.

 

“Yes, Damien?”

 

“Your… I was told to tell you…” His eyes flickered between the two women nervously, Cassie’s wolf began to tense, something was wrong. “The prisoner, at Scarlett Moon-” Cassie drew in a sharp breath and Karliah’s arms tightened around her protectively. He’s escaped, thought Cassie. “he was murdered this morning.” For at least a minute, no one spoke. Finally, Karliah managed to find her voice and broke through the suffocating tension in the air with the question they were all thinking.

 

“By who?”

 

“That- We don’t know yet… There’s going to be an investigation…”

 

“Oh my god.” Cassie breathed, staring straight ahead.

 

“Baby?” Lips pressed against her ear and she could feel Karliah’s silver eyes burning into the side of her head. “Are you okay?”

 

“Y-yeah. Just… surprised.” She blinked. “I… I don’t feel how I thought I would if he were to… When he… I don’t know…” Karliah rubbed at her back with one hand and used the other to pull her in tighter to her chest.

 

“It’s a shock, of course.” Damien muttered before ducking out awkwardly, shutting the door with a soft ‘click’.

 

“Sweetheart…” Karliah murmured.

 

“I don’t know what to do or say.”

 

“You don’t have to do or say anything, I’ll make sure no one bothers you and I promise you…” She took Cassie’s face in her hands and forced her to meet her eyes. “we will get to the bottom of this.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Didn't I say I would update eventually? ;)
> 
> I have chapters half written, it's just taking me some time to structure them properly - the updates may be slow but they will come, I promise!


	3. CHAPTER TWO

Karliah and Cassie sat through a long and tedious meeting the next morning, detailing the plan going forward for the investigation into the murder of Brandon. Karliah had insisted that Cassie stay home at first but quickly realised she was fighting a losing battle, it seems no mater how stubborn alphas are known to be, their mates will always find a way to outdo them. Cassie had pouted without pause while hanging from Karliah’s blazer for the entire duration of her lecture on why she was trying to protect Cassie from further trauma and how she didn’t want to make her a target for further gossip and scrutiny. Karliah gave in with a sigh,

“Fine, you win, get your coat on.”

“Hey,” Cassie pulled on her jacket and pushed up onto her toes to kiss Karliah’s cheek. “don’t baby me.”

Karliah rolled her eyes and grumbled, “You act like a baby…”

“Love you too.” Cassie shook her wrists to escape her sleeves and grabbed Karliah’s hand. “I’m just as nervous as you are, I’m just trying not to show it.”

“I know, baby, my wolf can feel it.” She brushed a kiss onto Cassie’s forehead.

They left, hand in hand, and drove to Cassie’s pack house. She still planned to live there until they graduated but the Brandon incident had put a spanner in the works… If anything this made her pack house feel much safer, but the gossip and intrigue surrounding the crime and the investigation that was about to begin would put her back in the very-much-unwanted spotlight that had only just faded thanks to her retreat into her mate’s home after the attack just a few short months earlier. But Sam was there… And he was the most precious person in her life… Well, besides Karliah. Her love for Karliah was carnal, reflex… instinct. Her love for Sam was built from years of tender moments and secrets shared in whispers… layers of love.

~

Markus’ father, the man who was technically ‘her alpha’ while she lived under his roof, sat at the head of the table. Three members of the border patrol guard sat to the left of the head of the justice office, the man responsible for the prison and its captives, all on the far side of the dining table slash temporary meeting table. Cassie hesitated only momentarily as she entered, she was about to lower her eyes and pull herself inwards at the sight of a table occupied solely by dominants, so used as she was to submitting to every dominant she came into contact with. But her wolf suddenly squared up inside of her. No, she thought, I am an alpha female. Regardless of these men and women being dominants, she had a duty to stand beside her mate with her head held high and an expression of elegance and pride. Karliah had drilled the message into her since she was marked: she was every other wolf’s equal, even alphas couldn’t disrespect her. Of course, Karliah made it clear she had thought that about Cassie since the moment they met, but for her it was still a strange concept… She felt excited about the changes that her mate would bring about for not only their pack in the future, but hopefully other packs too. She met Karliah’s strides just about, her legs stretching a little uncomfortably due to being so much shorter, and straightened her back, keeping her mouth set in a firm line and her eyes ahead. Karliah rested her hand on the small of her back and the weight grounded her.

“Good morning,” The three men and two women stood at the sight of them, even Alpha Matthew. Cassie had never so much as looked him in the eyes before but now she let her glance slide over him as she appraised the line-up. I’m getting the hang of this a bit too easily… She thought. “thank you both for coming so quickly, I understand this must be very distressing for you.”

“Thank you, Alpha Matthew.” Karliah pulled out a chair as she spoke and motioned for Cassie to sit. “We are grateful that you are taking this as seriously as we are.” She took the chair beside her and interlocked their fingers on the table.

“I think we should begin by running through what we know so far, then we can put together an action plan and organise how we pull together this instigation…”

~

The whole pack was buzzing with the news of Brandon’s murder. When Cassie and Karliah had arrived for their meeting with the alpha, Sam had been hidden away in the kitchen with Charles, waiting for the women to join them to discuss the incident afterwards. He perched on a stool and nursed a hot chocolate with mini marshmallows sprinkled on top, Charles sat opposite him, watching him with the gentle interest he always did. Sam sipped the sweet drink slowly. He was beyond confident no one would ever pin the murder on him, an omega injuring a fellow omega was unbelievable to any wolf but the idea that an omega could kill was pure comedy. No one would even be ridiculous enough to suggest it. He couldn’t help himself, the foolhardy confidence rushing through his system made him ask the question.

“And who do you think did it?” Sam asked innocently.

“No offence,” Charles folded his arms over his chest, “but if it were me leading this investigation, you would be my number one suspect.” Sam blinked, trying to hide the sliver of pride he felt that Charles considered him capable of being even a smidge dangerous. “And as much as I like you, I don’t understand how they haven’t led you away in handcuffs yet.”

“Why am I your number one suspect?”

“It’s just too obvious,” Charles shook his head in disbelief, “you were the last person to be seen visiting him, you left the prison mere minutes before he was pronounced dead and the knife found at the scene was one from this kitchen - and I know damn well no other wolf in this house peels any potatoes!” His eyes flashed with something that Sam couldn’t translate but he didn’t interrupt, he wasn’t entirely sure where the conversation was going at this point nor did he know where Charles had gotten so much information on the case. “Plus, you have a motive, as the best friend of Cassie you have reason to want revenge on him for what he did.”

“Well, Kar-”

“Karliah got her revenge, trust me, when they dragged his body in I would have thought he was a corpse if I couldn’t hear his heart beating, he looked like someone ran over him with a combine harvester.” Sam remembered all too well, clinging to Cassie as Karliah first subdued him with a quick punch and then went back for seconds once she knew Cassie was safe with a doctor, throwing him down like the fist of fury. Sam never thought he would see Mortal Kombat in real life until that day. “She chose to let him live, the chances of her deciding, weeks later, that she wanted him dead just don’t sound very likely to me.”

“Are you going to go to the head of the justice office and report your findings, then?” Sam teased.

“Why are you not taking this more seriously? Why does no one seem to be looking at this clearly?”

“Look, Charles, you have to understand that in our culture, the mere thought of an omega committing murder is comedy gold.” Sam explained, shrugging. “I could confess, on tape, to the murder and I would not get punished, because no jury of wolves would ever believe that an omega is capable of killing anyone, not even a fellow omega.” Charles’ face was solemn and they sat in silence for a few minutes as he digested this revelation.

“Did you do it?” He finally asked, although he couldn’t look Sam in the eyes.

“Would you think badly of me if I did?”

“No.” The answer popped out quickly, like a reflex. “I could never think badly of you, Sam. God knows I’m no saint, I’ve killed before and I’m not proud of it.”

“Then why do you seem so…”

“I guess I’m just disappointed, I was hoping you would explain why it couldn’t possibly have been you, that you would have some kind of secret evidence or alibi that only the justice office know about so that I wouldn’t have to accept what I figured out from the start. To be honest, I don’t want to believe you’re capable of that either, Sam.”

Sam looked away, popping a pink marshmallow into his mouth to suck on and give him an excuse not to speak.

~

Karliah and Cassie entered the kitchen with heads held high and Sam couldn’t help but imagine them as a pair of lesbian superheroes, striding in with an aura of power and authority. Cassie had clearly learnt a lot from her other half since living with her. The moment the two subs locked eyes though, her face broke out into a relieved, childish grin and suddenly she was his goofy best friend again.

They threw themselves together, wrapping their arms around each other’s bodies and rocking from side to side.

“I missed you!” Cassie squealed.

“You saw each other at school literally two days ago.” Karliah dead-panned. They ignored her, nuzzling into each other.

“I missed you too.” Said Sam. Although they got to see each other at school, that wasn’t enough, especially when Markus wouldn’t allow Sam to go out at weekends and Karliah didn’t have time to be driving Cassie to the pack, staying with her all day and then driving back again - she had work to do.

“Well, you won’t have to miss me any more…”

“Why’s that?”

“I’m moving back into the pack house.” Cassie’s face was frozen with a nervous smile as she waited for his reaction. Sam’s head spun and he pulled away carefully to turn to Karliah.

“I-is everything okay?”

“Well, I’m not happy about it…” Karliah sighed. “But I… I get why she wants to stay by your side… Even if that means she can’t be by mine…” She shrugged, clearly pissed off.

”Cassie…” Sam began, “Karliah is your mate, you have to move in with her… You can’t put me before her…” he tried to sound as soft and diplomatic as possible but her face still fell and his heart dropped with it, straight to his stomach. He really wanted Cassie to come back. But his opinion shouldn’t have any sway on the decisions made between another wolf and their mate “This is… the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me - but I can’t let you jeopardise your relationship with your mate… Plus, you’re going to be alpha female - you need to get to know your pack and take your place as a leader.”

“I agree,” Karliah huffed. “but it has been made clear that Cassie has made up her mind and we are unable to change it.” Cassie began to protest but Charles cut her off,

“I don’t mean to eavesdrop but is there no part-time option?” Karliah scrunched up her mouth as she thought.

“Normally, no. You have one pack and one only, you are completely and utterly loyal to that one pack and you rely on them to take care of you in times of need. However, I feel like with the tender situation of the murder investigation maybe we could twist Alpha Matthew’s arm to broker some kind of deal…” Cassie bounced on her toes excitedly.

“That would be perfect! Great idea, Charles!”

“Nothing is arranged yet, Cassie.” Karliah rolled her eyes in mock exasperation. “Don’t celebrate yet!”

Cassie stuck her tongue out but said no more and allowed her mate to run through the highlights of that morning’s meeting. The most important part for Sam though, was hearing that as of yet they had no suspects.

~

Alpha Matthew agreed to allow Cassie to stay in the Scarlett Moon pack house every other day with Karliah picking her up and dropping her off on the way to and from school. Her old home already felt slightly foreign to her after spending a couple of months living in the Lunar Warriors pack house, but she soon fell back into her stride, the only real difference to hers and Sam’s home life being the addition of Charles occasionally accompanying them in the kitchen as they gossiped.

It helped knowing that it was no longer possible for Brandon to get his hands on her.

~

An older member of the pack barged in to the kitchen, his belly hanging over his belt and his beard a dishevelled grey mess. He looked forty which meant he had to be at least sixty. He also looked rather unimpressed.

"I need new pillowcases." He announced. Before Sam could open his mouth Cassie whirled round,

"First door on your left down there, mate." she pointed down the corridor to the laundry room with a tight smile. The man's expression switched from mildly perturbed to furious in barely a second.

"I was speaking to the omega, young lady." He growled. He made sure to put extra stress on the word 'young'. Sam's eyes were flitting back and forth as though he were watching a tennis match between the two.

"The answer is the same either way, old man." She snapped, stressing the word 'old'. He spun a little on the spot to point at Sam threateningly,

"I suggest you get your act together, omega!" he spat out his rank like a piece of rotten food.

"I suggest you get out!" Cassie was getting riled up now, Sam was frozen on the spot though, otherwise he would pull her back, beg her to let it go. "You are perfectly capable of getting your own pillowcases!" Again, he turned to Sam to retort, they always took out their frustration on him. It was something he had wanted to bring up with Cassie before but hadn't had the balls, her heart was in the right place but she just didn't seem to understand that when she caused a scene they still blamed him.

"In my day omega knew their place!" He bellowed.

"In your day racism was cool!" Cassie shouted back, standing directly beneath his nose. Sam felt faint, he would definitely be getting it in the arse for this later... The man 'harrumph'd but otherwise didn't seem to have anything else to say. The pair stared each other down for a couple of seconds while Sam watched, unable to take a breath. The old man folded and unfolded his arms, huffed and stomped out of the room, muttering under his breath. "The future is now, old man!" Cassie called after him (she watched far too many 90s sit-coms).

"Oh god." Sam whispered. "Cassie!"

"Sorry." She did have the decency to look sheepish, pulling her neck inside of her top and biting her lip.

~

“Get your bony butt into my office, now.” Markus growled. Sam wanted to grumble about it not technically being his office, but his fathers, however he had enough sense not to open his mouth. He followed obediently and silently to the office, closing the door quietly behind him, no need to let too many other people know of his disgrace - luckily there were no guards outside the door this time…

“Why has Mr Krass reported insubordination from you?”

“I don’t know, sir.”

“Don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not lying, sir.” He stared at Markus’ chest, not daring to lift his eyes high enough to meet his mate’s own gold ones. “I never spoke a word to Mr Krass.”

“Then no one called Mr Krass old?”

“Someone did. It wasn’t me though, sir.”

“And that someone is?”

“I can’t say, sir.”

“But you know who did?” He leant forward, forcing Sam to look at his face.

“Yes, sir.” Markus pressed his lips together tightly, annoyance radiating from him. Neither of them moved for a minute. Markus brought his face even closer, the tip of his nose grazing down the bridge of Sam’s as he lowered himself down to the omega’s level. The silence in the room was holding Sam captive, this unfamiliar situation making him nervous - he knew what to do when Markus punished him, but now he just stood there staring.

Finally, Markus took a soft breath and whispered, “You know I have to punish you if you don’t tell me, right?” his breath tickled Sam’s hairless upper lip. Sam shivered.

“Yes, sir.”

“But what if I don’t want to?” Surprise hit Sam so hard that he lifted his eyes to stare into Markus’. His expression was wary and Sam felt the same, he couldn’t be sure Markus wasn’t messing with him.

“Then you could go easier on me, it’s your choice what punishment I get. No one is making you hurt me more than you have to… sir.” His heart was beating so hard he felt like he should be panting. He hadn’t said anything outrageous or incredibly rude but giving an alpha a dirty look was classed as disrespect - he hated to think what he might get for his choice of words.

Markus pondered his words for a few seconds before reaching out to take Sam’s jaw in his fingers and pull him up on his toes, pressing their lips together gently. For a moment, neither of them moved. Then an idea popped into Sam’s mind: reward his mate for being kind to him and maybe he could condition him into being nice all the time. He released a breathy moan and kissed him back, although he kept it short and sweet. When he pulled back he pretended to be embarrassed, pressing his hands against his cheeks, they were probably pink from being nervous but hopefully Markus would think he was shy about making submissive noises in front of him. He averted his eyes and tried to pull back but Markus blocked him with a hand on his lower back.

“What’s wrong?” He murmured.

“I…” Sam had to choose his words carefully, to seem both willing and innocent while stroking his mate’s ego. “I don’t like admitting that… I like… some of the stuff you do…”

“What kind of stuff do you like?” Markus pulled him closer and rested his backside on the desk so Sam was stood between his legs, their faces still not lined up but closer than when the alpha stood at his full height. Sam couldn’t believe they were having this conversation but he knew he needed to use it to his advantage. He rubbed at his arms and looked back up into those honey eyes, widening his own to look as vulnerable as he could.

“I… I like when…” He whined and lurched forward to hide his face in Markus’ t-shirt. For a moment the alpha didn’t move and Sam worried he would push him away, instead he wrapped his arms around his waist again. “I like when you kiss me…” He mumbled into the black cotton, he knew Markus could hear him, all wolves had powerful hearing but an alpha’s was superior even to them. Even so, Markus ‘mmm’d in return. “I like when you bite me in a nice way, not when you’re angry…” The image of the larger boy sucking and biting at his hip bones flashed into his mind, it was the closest his mate came to implying he found his body attractive. Again, Markus hummed in reply. “I like it any time you touch me when you don’t hurt me a lot… Even a little bit isn’t so bad… When…” He paused, unsure whether he should admit his secret shame. “When you spank me, I like it when it’s your hand.” This time Markus took longer to respond. He sighed, squeezed Sam in close for a moment and then released, letting his arms rest around his thin hips.

“I like spanking you.” He admitted. “I thought I was cruel and evil for wanting to find reasons to punish you but I just wanted to touch you without getting attached.” Sam was glad Markus couldn’t see his face as the look of shock that must have been plastered across his features would have been almost comical. Was Markus screwing with him? “That’s why I started using… other things to spank you with… When I spank you with my hands I get…” He let out a soft growl, sliding said hands under Sam’s thick jumper and the top underneath. “Really turned on.” The fingers trailing up Sam’s bare back massaged circles into his skin, working their way higher and higher… “Maybe that should be your punishment for being rude to Mr Krass…” He let the suggestion hang in the air. Sam considered it… This may be the best ending out of all the scenarios in his head… Much better than kicking up a fuss and ruining the moment… And he didn’t see any chance of them forgetting all about Mr Krass and riding off into the sunset together… He nuzzled into Markus’ neck with a soft whine.

“Yes, please.” The hands squeezed at his skin as they worked their way back down and out from under his clothes. They slid round the band of Sam’s jeans to the front, undoing the buttons slowly. “C-can I keep my underwear on?” He whispered, gripping Markus’ top tightly in his small hands.

“If that’s what you want.” A very un-Markus thing to say, Sam thought.

“I think so…” He stepped out of the pile of jeans on the floor and pulled himself up into Markus’ lap. “Maybe… take them off later?” Markus, grabbed his bum with both hands and pulled him closer.

“Yeah… Sure.” He sounded distracted now as he stood, carrying Sam in his arms, and walked around his desk to plop down in his leather chair, slowly lowering Sam over his lap. Sam relaxed his neck and let his head hang down as he awaited the first smack. Markus traced his fingers over the seams of Sam’s boxer-briefs, creating small shivers in Sam that ran down his legs at the tickling sensation. “Aah…” He moaned softly. Markus warmed his round mounds with gentle massage for a few minutes, squeezing the flesh underneath his large hands as though he were moulding play-doh.

The first strike came out of nowhere and Sam jolted, his body would have leapt up instinctively without Markus’ firm hand on his lower back pinning him to the alpha’s knees. A gasp burst from him at the sharp feeling, a bitter-sweet pain.

“You okay?” The question blind-sided Sam almost as much as the first hit. Markus never asked him if he was okay.

“Y-yeah.” He breathed, relaxing his muscles slowly and deliberately in time with his breathing. There were a few moments of silence before Sam remembered to add “Sir.” to the end. Markus laughed softly and swung his hand down again, striking him just as hard the second time. Sam whined softly at the feel, arousal building between his legs.

The spanking continued at a steady pace, with each blow Sam rewarded his mate with high-pitched moans and simpers, playing up his submissive vocals to turn on Markus as much as possible. He wanted Markus to want him, to be as addicted to Sam as Sam was to him.

After the thirteenth strike, Markus slipped Sam’s underwear down. His cheeks were burning but the cool air in the room soothed it a little. Markus began the process again, massaging the skin and spanking back and forth, swapping from side to side to keep the sting equal on both sides. His swats were definitely softer with Sam’s underwear pulled to his mid-thighs, a fact Sam noted with glee. As much as he enjoyed a bit of pain with his pleasure, he was by no means a masochist and he was glad to know Markus was thinking of his pain levels while he got off on punishing him.

By the time Markus stopped, Sam had lost count of how many hits he had taken, but he was struggling to care in the after-punishment fog that had settled on him. He felt sore, but satisfied and sleepy but sexually-charged. Markus pulled his underwear back up carefully, stroking at the skin that the underwear lined. He pulled Sam up with both hands and laid him against his chest. Sam sighed tiredly and curled into him, dozing a little. He could feel Markus’ dick pressing against his hip, just as hard as he was, but there was a gentle and delicate atmosphere in the room and he let it take him away into a state of half-consciousness.

~

Two days later, Jasper burst into the classroom looking like he had been dragged through a hedge backwards, he was sweating, his hair was a mess and he was panting as though he had just run a marathon.

"I," He sucked in a deep breath, "found her," another pant, "my mate," and another, "she's here." and finally, he dropped across a free chair, his chest heaving.

"And you just finished having sex, or?" Aminali teased.

"I had," Pant. "to tell," Pant. "you guys straight away."

"So..." Aminali leaned across to look out the door he had just come crashing through, "where is she?" she asked. Jasper blinked, froze and sat bolt up-right.

"I left her..." He flipped his head around, "I left her behind!" his friends laughed as he leapt up and dashed back out of the room, somehow even faster than when he came in.

"I'll bet you anything she's fine as hell, he gets all the luck!" Aminali moaned, flinging a limp hand over her forehead dramatically. Karliah chuckled to herself, drawing the attention of every sub in the room to her. She was tapping out a quick reply on her phone.

“As one of her closest friends I feel obligated to confirm that Alexa is, in fact, fine as hell.”


	4. CHAPTER THREE

The softest of rustling sounds caught Sam’s attention, drawing his eyes up from the sudsy water and the dishes he was scrubbing. A figure stood partly concealed by the branches, holding their body taught and unnervingly still. Sam mimicked them, freezing on the spot with his hands still under the water, and watched silently. A man slid along the boundary line of the forest, as though he were shadowing someone on patrol… Except there was no one patrolling… Sam realised with a cold feeling spreading up his neck that he hadn’t seen anyone walk the perimeter of the forest since he began washing up. He was transfixed, trying to take in every detail of this strange figure as he crept through the leaves. The man was slightly above average height, lanky build, closely shaved hair and wearing all camo clothing. He disappeared momentarily and reappeared five trees down with a phone out, held it up for a few seconds as if to take a photo and then vaporised again.

Sam pulled his hands out and dried them slowly on a tea towel, he needed to peek, he had to know if the man was still on the property. The back door that led from the kitchen to the garden had frosted glass panels but he couldn’t see any shadows on the other side, he slowly turned the handle and slipped out, peering cautiously around the hedges that lined the walls of the pack house. Not a soul could be seen or heard on that side of the house. Sam followed the wall round, sticking close to the bushes, until he reached the side the kitchen window faced but even there there was no sign of anything living but bugs. He decided to suck up all the courage inside of him (it didn’t amount to much) and walk towards the boundary line where the forest that surrounded their home began.

As he reached the first tree, an awful feeling crept over his skin and he hesitated, his wolf howling at him not to go any further, he was being watched… and he could smell a vampire. A couple of leaves dropped in a clump and Sam’s head snapped up so fast his neck cracked. Perched on a branch a foot above him was the man. A vampire man. A vampire man with a gun holstered to his hip and a look of surprised anger plastered over his face. The two males stared at each other for a couple of heartbeats, Sam’s heartbeats, the only heartbeats to be heard in the chilling silence around them. Sam drew in a huge breath and the vampire’s eyes widened, he realised he thought Sam was going to scream for help, maybe he would… He began to let out a high scream and the man disappeared before his eyes in a flutter of leaves and a gust of wind. Sam didn’t wait for him to come back and bolted back to the back door, slamming it shut and locking it before backing up until he felt the small of his back hit the island in the centre of the room.

“Sam?” The omega leapt half a foot in the air. “Are you okay?” He spun, bracing his hands on the island. Charles blinked a few times, Sam assumed out of confusion rather than a need to actually clear grit from his eyes. He was holding a book in one hand and a white paper bag in the other.

“I- Yeah.” He breathed, his legs were trembling.

“You sure?”

“Can… Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.” He slid onto one of the stools and placed his book and bag onto the island.

“Are there any other vampires… Here?” He asked hesitantly.

“What do you mean?” Charles eyebrows pulled together. “The other three ambassadors?”

“No, I mean… Any more… that we don’t know about?” Sam felt sick to his stomach as he waited for Charles’ answer. The older man pulled a face,

“No, why? That’s a weird thing to ask out of the blue.”

“It’s just… I… There was a man, a vampire… Not one of you guys.” Charles’ eyes flashed and he darted forward.

“Where?” His tone was much sharper and more serious than Sam had ever heard.

“Outside, he was in the trees and I went out to look and suddenly he was there and he was so close and he was looking at me-” Charles launched forward again and grabbed Sam’s forearms,

“Is he still out there?” he stared into Sam’s eyes with an expression of seriousness that Sam had never seen before.

“He disappeared.” Sam squeaked. Charles’ eyebrows pulled together.

“That doesn’t make any sense…”

“I think he thought I was going to scream, there was a moment when we both stared at each other and then I took a big breath and he vanished… Then I ran back here.” He tilted his head towards the back door and Charles darted over, pulling the door open a sliver and taking peek, his body stone still as he took in the garden with his hawk-like eyes.

“What did he look like?”

“Tallish, skinny, buzzcut…” Sam waved his hands around, a little unsure of what else to say. “Camouflage clothes… Big belt… Gun…”

“A GUN?!” Charles spun round, slamming the door behind him.

“Ye-yes…” Sam paused, scrunching his face up in confusion. “Why do you sound so worried, I thought vampire skin was too strong to be harmed by bullets?”

“I’m bulletproof but you’re not!” Charles exclaimed, his honey eyes wide and his eyebrows high. Sam blinked and fiddled with his top nervously.

“Oh.”

“I’ll let the other reps know, you tell Markus and make sure he informs his dad.”

“Right, yeah.” He nodded, already dreading even entering Markus’ office, let alone trying to have a conversation with him. Markus did not like to be interrupted when he was working… Actually, Markus didn’t like to be interrupted ever…

“And don’t go outside, not until we know what’s going on.”

“Yes, sir.” It popped out of his mouth instinctively and he immediately regretted it, stupid omega reflexes..

“I- Hey, don’t…” If Charles could blush, there would have been a pink tinge adorning his cheeks to match his expression of mortification. Sam blushed on his behalf.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t worry, It’s fine.” He gave a small smile and vanished through the door that lead back up to the rest of the house.

~

“Sir, I saw something in the forest today.”

“Trees?” Markus asked, keeping his eyes on the laptop screen in front of him.

“Within our boundary line, sir.” Sam continued, undeterred by his mate’s lack of attention. Markus’ mood swung back and forth with no clear rhythm but Sam at least knew that he was most likely to get a sour reaction from him and could prepare himself for that.

“Trees with initials carved into them?”

“A vampire.” Sam added. Markus looked up now, but only to give Sam a biting look of annoyance.

“Could it be, just maybe, that this vampire was one of those staying in our house?”

“It wasn’t, sir. I had never seen him before, I even described him to Charles and he said he didn’t think it was someone from their coven.” Sam insisted, begging with his eyes for Markus to take him seriously. The alpha snorted.

“Their covens are huge, I doubt he knows every member.”

“Vampires have incredible memories, sir.” Said Sam.

“Did he tell you that?”

“Who?”

“Ambassador Charles, your new bff.” He made sure to double dip the word ‘ambassador’ in a thick layer of contempt.

“He-”

“He is only pretending to be your friend, you know.” Sam stiffened, that stung.

“He’s a good man.” Was all he replied. Markus looked satisfyingly uncomfortable as he stalked out of the office, closing the door behind him.

~

Cassie was at Karliah’s pack house that day, but Sam called to let her know what had happened. He couldn’t bear it if something happened to her because she wasn’t warned. Karliah, of course, was far more concerned than Cassie was and had Sam run through every moment of the encounter, firing questions at him with rapid succession while Cassie whined in the background about the alpha ‘interrogating’ her friend.

She then had Sam pass the phone to Charles who also had to answer ten thousand questions before promising he would speak to Markus afterwards since Sam’s attempt at warning him had gone so expectedly badly.

They both wished the girls a lovely evening, promised to see them in the morning and hung up.

~

“Come on, babe.” Cassie whined. “We’ve finally got a finished guest list, it’s time to pick out the invitations and get the names sent off to the printers.”

“Are we sure it’s absolutely complete this time though? No more changes or last minute additions?” Karliah huffed, shrugging on her leather jacket.

“You say that like it’s been my pack that has been the source of all the chopping and changing!” Cassie laughed, pulling gently on Karliah’s plaits. Her alpha tilted her head down to kiss her forehead.

“I know, I’m just getting so exasperated with all the little details… I’m more worried about my vows than which suck-up wannabe-diplomats sit three rows back and clap politely at the end of the ceremony - we are going to say the exact same sentence to fifty percent of our guests: ‘thank you so much for coming, we look forward to building stronger bonds between our packs in the future’ and that’s it, that’s literally all we will say to those self-important dominants.” She sighed, “And now with this rogue vampire business… I just feel like there are so many serious issues that are pulling at my attention and yet my mother is pestering me relentlessly about what table the alpha of Moon Shadow will be sitting on and whether or not we remembered to invite the alpha-mate of Blood Fang.” Cassie pulled herself up on her tip-toes to pop a kiss on Karliah’s nose before sliding on her thick wool cardigan. “I know these things are important but in the grand scheme of things they just don’t feel that important in comparison to a wild vampire roaming about.” Karliah grabbed her keys as they approached the front door with another sigh. “But, for now, let’s enjoy our date night.” Cassie beamed up at her, pulling the door open and standing back to let her mate through.

“I agree, let’s enjoy ourselves.” She took her mate’s hand as they walked to the car. “Plus, we should be celebrating finishing the list!”

“Champagne all around.” Karliah chuckled, unlocking her car and opening the passenger door for Cassie to hop in.

“And while we are there we can start short-listing paper types, fonts, envelopes and design styles.” Cassie announced, her bright smile never fading. Karliah paused, staring at her for a moment before groaning and throwing the door closed and stomping round to her side of the car.

  
~

Most of the work Markus’ father had assigned to him was finished and he was ready to wind down for the night when the vampire knocked on the office door.

“Come in.” He called. As soon as the door opened he wished he hadn’t. Charles. That cocky, laid-back, arrogant vampire that was always hanging around Sam like a fly buzzes around a horse’s backside.

“Afternoon.” He greeted. Markus grunted back. He was unperturbed and took a seat in front of him, clearly unfazed by Markus’ alpha aura as he relaxed into the chair as though he owned it. “I’m sure Sam has already told you but I wanted to inform you that I have given my fellow ambassadors a full report on this morning’s events with the rogue vampire and we have a contact back home looking into the matter. Until then, we will be avoiding leaving the pack house.” Markus took a moment to process his words - Sam had been serious. He had assumed the omega was looking for attention with his tale of a wild vampire in the woods. He sat up straighter and raised an eyebrow at his unwanted visitor.

“Scared of one rogue vampire?” He snarled. He wanted to hurt Charles. He had hurt Sam with his harsh words and that had felt good for a moment, to get back at him for letting this creep weasel into his life… But now he knew the person he really wanted to bring pain to was Charles, not Sam. This man was the problem.

“Worried about your pack, as I’m sure you are too.” Always such a saint, Markus thought bitterly. He even looked like one, like an angel in a renaissance painting… Golden brown hair that curled around a deceivingly innocent looking face and a slim-but-toned body that a common human might find attractive.

“Exactly, I’m worrying for them. So my pack don’t need you to worry about them, stay in your own business.”

“I care about the people in this pack.”

“You care about getting balls deep in my omega.” Markus growled.

“His name is Sam.” What a pretentious git, Markus thought. Names aren’t what’s important. Power was important, reputation, strength, pack size, wolf presence…

“Oh, you know his name? Wow, is that what makes you Mr Perfect? Is that how low his standards are that he’ll jump into the bed of someone who knows his name?”

“Sam and I have never been intimate.” Charles held his calm composure. “As his...” He paused, considering his words. “alpha… you would know if we had, wouldn’t you?” Markus squinted angrily, what the hell did that pause mean? What was he implying?

“Alphas are not interested in the love lives of omega.” He snapped defensively.

“And yet, here you sit making accusations.”

“And there you sit sticking your nose in pack business.”

“Looks like we’ll have to move on or we won’t make any progress in the far more serious problem of a rogue vampire wandering your territory.” Markus grumbled under his breath. Even though he knew damn well Charles could hear him.

“Fine, what do you want me to do about it. Since it sounds as though your people have already started looking into it.”

“Just make sure everyone in the pack knows not to go out alone and even then, the bigger the group the better.”

“Great, will do.” He said sarcastically. “Is that everything?”

“Yes, thank you for your time, Markus.” He stood and walked to the door but paused with his hand on the metal knob. “I know you like to pretend that you don’t care about Sam, but… I feel like it would be wrong of me not to say…”

“What?” Markus snapped.

“I have a feeling that the vampire was… targeting Sam, like Sam was the reason he was there.”

“Why would you think that?” His heart squeezed despite his brain repeating over and over ‘it’s not true, he’s trying to rile you up, it’s not true, he’s trying to rile you up’.

“Sam came face to face with him and the vampire froze and fled, I doubt he is gone for good.” Said Charles. “I am almost certain he will return but I also think next time he may do more than watch and take photos on his phone.”

“Okay, thanks.” Markus grunted, nodding at the door to give the firm hint that it was time for the vampire to leave. Charles sighed softly and left without another word.

~

A shadow appeared in front of Jasper as a tall figure stepped up behind him. He froze, sniffing the air. His mate. She took his hips in her hands and slid her fingers under the waistband of his chinos. He stepped back, pressing his back into her and closing his locker. She wrapped her arms fully around his waist, keeping her long fingers under the material of his trousers. Her lips grazed the tip of his ear.

“I’ve barely seen you all day, where’ve you been hiding?”

“Uh, in class?” The only thing that sucked about having an older mate was that they had no classes together. She was only a year older but Jasper loved the thought of his mate being an ‘older woman’, although did that mean he had to start acting mature? His breath caught when she began to fiddle with the elastic of his boxers. “I could just stop going to class, become a house-husband at sixteen.” She chuckled into the back of his head.

“But that would mean even less time together.” She bit his ear gently and his back arched just a little, thankfully every other student was too busy with their own lives to notice the slightly suggestive situation going on.

“You’re going to get us in trouble.”

“Mmm, why don’t we find somewhere more private?” The bell rang to announce the next classes starting. “Lunchtime. Meet me in Mrs Gomez’s room.”

“O-okay.” He gasped. She placed a soft kiss under his ear and pulled her hands out of his pants.

“See you at one, don’t be late.” She gave his arse a quick smack and strode away, leaving Jasper to fight with the half-erection straining against his boxers. He grabbed his bag and shuffled to the little boy’s room, he would just have to be a bit late to Chemistry.

~

Jasper trudged to the Mrs Gomez’s classroom, running late after spending too much time chatting after class with Aminali and sending texts to their friend group to let them know he would be spending lunch with his mate. They made sure to take the piss out of him, only one week into meeting her and he was already ditching his friends for her.

He threw the door open and kicked it shut behind him. Alexa was waiting for him, seated on a desk and sporting a sour expression.

“What?” He asked.

“You’re late.”

“My bad.” He shrugged, approaching her casually.

“You’re not going to apologise?”

“I said ‘my bad’…” He pulled a face. “You’re my mate not my master…”

“I’m your dominant, you should apologise by submitting to me.”

“Well, now I don’t want to submit to you!”

“Well, you don’t get much of a choice.” She grabbed him by the top, pulling him towards her as she slid off the table, brining herself up to her full height. “You will submit to me, now.” She loomed over him, her platinum blonde pixie-cut framing her face perfectly. Stop it Jasper, you shouldn’t be thinking about how pretty she is when she’s very obviously not pleased with you. He huffed, clutching his hands against his chest.

“Don’t wanna.” He whinged. Alexa grabbed his chin and pinched it just enough to make him wince. He could feel her wolf overpowering his, he forced himself to make eye contact but that made it worse, her dominance radiating into him in waves. “D-don’t…” He whined, pouting up at her futilely. Eventually he couldn’t hold out any longer and turned away slowly and with exaggerated effort, revealing his neck and pressing his head into her arm. Her wolf released a wave of calm that washed over him and he felt his own wolf chill, much less anxious without its dominating presence holding him captive. He jumped as he felt her graze her teeth along the tender skin of his neck until she reached the meeting point where it met his shoulder and clamped down, sinking her teeth into him. “A-aah!” He moaned. His hands jerked forward and grabbed her top, squeezing it when the bite began to sting. “P-please…” He whispered. Jasper felt his cheeks heat as he realised he was breathing hard into her shoulder. He was turned on. Her mouth pulled away with a wet ‘pop’ and she pulled back.

“Was that so hard?” Her hazel eyes were softer than before, watching him carefully. His eyes flicked to and from her face, his shame throwing him off and making him awkward. He whined, unsure of what to say. “Don’t make those cute noises when I’m trying to dominate you!” She teased with a small smile, sliding her hands up to pinch his cheeks.

“It’s not my fault, you made me!”

“I’ll make you do a lot of things.” She growled, pressing their bodies together and spinning them on the spot, swapping their positions so the desk now pressed up against Jasper’s back. He squirmed beneath her as she ran her hands over him, feeling every inch of his torso. His own fingers seemed locked in place, frozen and unable to reciprocate. He wanted to touch her, to feel her abs, squeeze her boobs and grab her butt. But his body refused to budge, he couldn’t move. Was it nerves? They hadn’t been that physical since their connection. In the week since that fateful moment in the hallway they had shared small, ghost-like touches and a couple of chaste kisses in hidden alcoves. It was hard when they weren’t in the same pack and Alexa was still getting settled in hers since she was still technically quite new to the lunar Warriors. They hadn’t even talked about a bonding ceremony or marking yet… Jasper knew the lunar Warriors were quite traditional but his pack wasn’t and if Alexa was raised in another pack she might not be either… He hadn’t even met her family… There were so many things playing on his mind, chasing each other round and round inside his head when a sudden shock of pleasure snapped him back to the present. Her hands were under his shirt, pinching and pulling at his nipples, her lips on his neck, mouthing at the skin softly and her knee rubbing at him through his beige trousers. His dick was stirring and growing in his boxers.

“Hah-haaa…” He breathed, his hips jerking against her knee and his back arching into her teasing hands.

“Are you okay?” She murmured against his neck. A shiver ran through him at the feel of her breath on the wet spots she had made with her kisses and licks.

“Y-yeah.” She slowed her movements and pulled back a little, standing up straight and lowering her leg but keeping her hands on his sides. He blinked up at her in confusion, he didn’t want her to stop. She looked over his face, scanning him like a strange creature in a petting zoo.

“Are you sure? You seem a little… stiff.”

“I mean, that’s kind of how cocks work…” He joked, trying to ignore the awkwardness and move on. She rolled her eyes with a small laugh.

“I don’t mean there, your whole body seems kinda frozen - we don’t have to do anything yet if you’re not comfortable.” Jasper huffed, he didn’t want to talk feelings, he wanted her to rub at his crotch some more.

“I don’t know what it is, I really want to touch you but my body has just jammed up… I think I’m still in shock from meeting you - I was so desperate to find my mate that now it has finally happened maybe my body doesn’t truly believe it.” He scrunched up his face awkwardly. She smiled with a look of relief on her small, round features.

“Well, that’s okay, we can just take it slow - I’ll use my hands to warm you up to it nice and slow.” She winked. “Although, since you were late we don’t have much time…” Jasper was suddenly lifted by his waist to place him on the desk, his hands falling behind him to support his back. “And since you’re halfway there already…” She trailed a long finger over the bulge in his chinos, up to the buttons where she quickly popped hem open. “Can I touch you here?”

“O-of course.” Jasper mumbled, chewing on his bottom lip.

“If you feel… frozen, just say something, okay?”

“’Kay.” He gave a short nod. Alexa’s hands pulled his zipper down, opening the flaps as far as they would go and began stroking him through the soft material of his boxers. Jasper jolted at the first touch and his legs shook a little, it felt incredible. She was watching him so intently as she coaxed him to full hardness, it made him feel feverish. He got bigger and bigger in her hand, her tender touch sending sparks along him until he was panting softly, trying to hide the sound. The front of his underwear had a growing damp spot from the precum leaking from his tip.

“Wow, you’re definitely a grower.” She commented with raised eyebrows.

“So you thought I was small before?” He asked incredulously.

“No, I thought you were average before.” She soothed, pulling at him with firmer strokes now, sending pulses of pleasure to the pit of his stomach. “Now I think you are VERY far above average… And I’m looking forward to all the fun we’re going to have using it.” She grinned salaciously and snatched the band of his underwear down to expose his member to the chilly air of the room. Jasper’s mouth fell open in a small ‘o’. Her hand grabbed him fully now, skin to skin, feeling every inch of him and massaging it firmly. The gasping breaths were back and Jasper lifted his hands from the table, his abs clenching now from both the electric shocks running up his dick and the effort of holding him upright, and used them to cover his mouth and red cheeks. She twisted her hand around ridge beneath the head and a sharp moan burst from his lips. “Like that?” She asked with a grin that looked like it was about to split her face.

Jasper could barely manage a reply, he gasped out, “Mm- ye- aaah!” before clamping his hands more tightly over his mouth. He didn’t know how much longer he would last. On the one hand, he wanted to hold out so Alexa didn’t think he was a pathetic kid with a lack of stamina, but on the other hand they didn’t have much time left until lessons started again which would mean either getting caught with his penis out or having to finish off by himself in a toilet stall… again. “It… I’m getting…” He sucked in a sharp breath and drew his legs up a little, his tummy beginning to ache from the strain of balancing on the desk and the overwhelming sensations running from his crotch up his body. It felt so good, her hand was so warm… so firm but gentle…

“Are you gonna come?” Her tone was almost teasing and he scowled a her as best he could while she sent incredible sparks of pleasure through his genitals. She laughed, “What’s the sour face for?”

“You-you’re making fun of me!”

“No, I’m not - I’m just feeling pleased with myself.” She winked and did that thing again, the twisty thing, the one that made his vision go fuzzy.

“Ah! F-fuck!”

“Come on, love, stop being stubborn and let go.” She whispered, her voice suddenly sweet and coaxing. Jasper panted through his fingers, letting out a submissive whine at the command, he had never felt like this before… had never craved domination like this… He wanted to obey her, do exactly as she asked… as she ordered.

“Aaaah! Ah-hah! Fuck!” Jasper cried out, probably far too loudly, and his body curled in on itself just a little more as his muscles spasmed through his orgasm. Alexa jerked her head down, covering the tip with her mouth and twisting her fingers around the head of his dick over and over, forcing the almost unbearable pleasure to continue long past his finish.   
“Mmm.” Alexa replied, swallowing.

“Oh god, fuck, shit!” Jasper moaned, his body incapable of relaxing as she worked him into a state of sweaty exhaustion.

When she finally released him he dropped back on the desk, letting his limbs finally release the tension that had been holding his muscles captive throughout. His legs hung over the edge of the desk, shaking. Alexa leant over him, putting her hands either side of his torso and lowering her head down to his to kiss him deeply, sliding her tongue between his lips and flicking at his. When they broke apart she pulled him up by the arms and he slumped against her shoulder, still struggling to catch his breath.

“You’ve got quite the potty mouth, kid.” She chuckled into the crown of his head.

“Mmm… and you’ve got quite the talented mouth.” He mumbled. She leant him to one side and gave his left butt cheek a smack.

“Watch it.”

“Yes, m’am.” He laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two updates in one week? This can't be the real Ladeeda - I think I'm an imposter...


	5. CHAPTER FOUR

The relationship between the pack and their live-in guests had become incredibly strained in the days after the announcement was made by the alpha. The orders were for everyone to be as wary as possible, no leaving the pack house alone and no submissives to leave without their dominants. This PSA unfortunately brought a lot of suspicion onto the vampires already living under the same roof as the wolves, who now needed to be concerned at the sight or smell of the walking undead.

 

The vampires’ interest in the events only made things worse, despite assurances that they were looking into the problem with the intentions of helping the pack, there were still those that felt uncomfortable with the idea of having vampires anywhere near them, let alone in their house, walking their halls, seeing every vulnerability the pack had, digging into their weak spots… Possibly tracking them for the same coven that were stalking them. That was the thing with werewolves - they’re the worst gossips.

 

 ~

 

The Scarlett Moon kitchen was quiet except for the clinking of metal cutlery as Sam arranged them into the correct slots in the drawer. He was enjoying the quiet as he had found the vampire news had caused many to panic and feel the need to be constantly moving. The alpha, beta and Markus had all been coming round checking that every member of the pack was accounted for and Sam was tired of them bothering him. They could never just peek their head in and say ‘check’, they had to interrogate him: had he seen anything, had he been outside, had he finished folding the laundry? No, no and yes, repeated over and over.

 

A different head popped round the doorway as he put the last knife away though, one he was more than happy to answer questions to. Cassie grinned from ear to eat and hopped down the two steps into the room with her hands behind her back.

 

“What’re you hiding?” Sam asked with a knowing smile, she was always up to something. Why was he friends with such a troublemaker?

 

Instead of answering, Cassie pulled an envelope out from behind her back and held it out to Sam with both hands. He took it from her slowly. It had his name on the front, in intricate gold script. He turned it over carefully and pulled up the flap, doing his best not rip the paper, before pulling out the A5 card inside. His official invitation to Cassie and Karliah’s bonding ceremony. It was decorated with delicate lace and adorned with more gold letting stating:

 

‘With the greatest of joy, you are invited to celebrate the bonding ceremony of Karliah Stone and Cassie Linette.’ Followed by the date (a few weeks away), time (basically all day), location of the ceremony and the location of the after party. The ceremony itself would be held in a traditional shrine under the supervision of a priestess with a night of revelry to follow at Karliah’s pack house. A smaller piece of card was tucked behind with menu options printed on for the five course meal to be served the evening of.

 

“It’s beautiful, Cass!”

 

“Thanks, Sammy.” She smiled nervously and he wondered if perhaps she was questioning her font choice. “There’s something I need to ask you as well…” She took the invitation, placed it on the table and clasped his hands in her own. Sam fought the urge to chew his lip, this was serious. He knew she wouldn’t be able to stay with him forever, now she was going to try and make him feel better, let him down easily as she explained all the reasons why she had to move in with Karliah permanently and full-time. “Samuel Hall, my dearest friend and closest confidante,” She began. Sam’s brows pulled together, this was not how we was expecting her to lead off. “would you do me the honour of being my witness?” Sam’s mouth popped open and his brain short-circuited. He considered Cassie his most precious friend, but he hadn’t thought for a moment she would ask this of him. He didn’t know of any omega who had ever been asked to be a witness at a bonding ceremony.

 

If you are of the werewolf species, you can skip the next couple of lines but for those of you reading who are vampire, fae or maybe even human (I know, who believes in humans these days?) to put being a witness into perspective - it’s a the equivalent of being asked to be someone’s best man or woman, their bridesmaid, their usher, their ring-bearer and the guardian who walks them up the aisle all in one. As wolves don’t have what humans call a ‘bridal party’ or ‘groom’s men’ and are not ‘walked’ up the aisle by a parent or guardian (they walk alone, to symbolise their new-found independence), the witnesses are the only people outside of the couple that have any role in the ceremony. So, essentially, both halves of the happy pair have to choose their most trusted and important friend/family member/ice-cream man for this role as they only get one person each. Each person’s witness must also take a vow and is then tied to the couple for the rest of their lives. Now that that’s cleared up for you non-mongrels, on with our heart-warming moment!

 

“I…” Sam’s eyes began to sting. “I am so honoured.” The tears welled up, blurring his vision.

 

“Is that a yes?”

 

“Of course it’s a yes!” He exclaimed, throwing his arms around her and hiding the streaming tears in her shoulder. Cassie rocked them from side to side.

 

“Thank you! I can’t do it without you!” She squealed. Her own eyes were misty when she pulled back and she sniffed, scrunching up her nose cutely.

 

“Who is Karliah’s witness?”

 

“She’s kind of torn at the moment, she feels like she should ask Damien because he’s her beta but she already feels so close to Alexa even though she hasn’t been in her pack that long… If Tank was a few years older she would obviously pick him…” She sighed. “I think she is getting quite frustrated with the planning process if I’m being honest… so many little finnicky details that neither of us are interested in but she finds it so much harder to hide her lack of enthusiasm.”  

 

“I’m sure she is just under a lot of pressure…” Sam suggested. Cassie smiled sadly and reached out for another hug, he squeezed her tight with all his might.

 

“Thanks, Sammy.”

 

~

 

Markus’ father was maybe 65% of the way through one of his signature lectures on the importance of pack bonds and relationships when footsteps thundered up the hallway and a messy scrabble of a knock sounded on the door. His father broke off mid sentence to turn and peer at the door as though he had never noticed it before.

 

“Come in.” He said. Two border patrol guards (one, Markus realised rather late, was his friend Ash) burst in and began to yell at the same time:

 

“We got one-”

 

“In the forest earlier-”

 

“Only minor injuries-”

 

“ENOUGH!” Markus’ father stood, slamming his fists on his desk. “One at a time - which of you has been on the patrol guard longer?” The woman raised her hand.

 

“That would be me, sir.”

 

“Your name?”

 

“Jen Dowd, Sir.”

 

“Go ahead, Jen.”

 

“One of the patrol leaders spotted a vampire darting around the edge of the forest, taking photos of something.” Markus’ chest suddenly clenched. Sam… Charles had warned him. “So he put out a message to everyone to avoid him until we knew if he was one of the ambassadors, he didn’t look like one but we didn’t want to go jumping the gun…” His heart hammered against his chest as he willed the guard to hurry her story along, he needed to know the rogue vampire hadn’t approached Sam again. “But all the reps were present and accounted for inside the house so we had a team of guards approach from each side, he was still creeping around with his phone out-”

 

“Where was he pointing it?” Markus blurted.

 

“Markus, be quiet.” His father scolded, waving him away.

 

“We need to know what he was taking photos of.” Markus objected.

 

“Markus, I’m serious, let the woman finish her report.”

 

“Well, sir, you can see the photos he took for yourself - we took him live!” The guard announced excitedly, bobbing on the spot in an obvious attempt to hold herself back from jumping for joy. Markus’ father’s face broke out into a grin so wide he thought the old man might split his face.

 

“Where is he now?”

 

“The bullet-proof glass cell two floors down.”

 

“Good, but you have guards watching too?”

 

“Yes, sir.”

 

“Fantastic.” The older alpha growled. “Let’s go see what this blood sucker has to say.”

 

~

 

Cassie’s scalp tingled as Karliah’s fingers ran through her curls, dragging out the dredges of frightening thoughts leftover from the nightmare she had woken from an hour earlier. It had only been a nap, how could nightmares get you in a nap? They had spent the first twenty minutes talking about it in bed but Cassie quickly grew tired of that, it was always the same nightmare anyway, what was the point in rehashing it? So they quickly slipped into cuddles, it was late and Karliah had finished most of her work on her laptop while Cassie had slept after getting back from the Scarlett Moon pack house anyway.

 

Cassie snuggled in closer, she knew this physical affection was only a short-term solution but she craved it so much when the panic struck. She only went to therapy once a week now, and although it helped a lot, she still needed that instant security that came with her mate’s embrace. Nothing bad could happen to her with Karliah holding her.

 

Before she was marked, relying so heavily on another living person, even her own family, would have scared Cassie shit-less, but there was no fighting the safety she felt at the mere scent of the towering blonde. Although… her mate’s wolf was giving off a strange scent, her emotions leaking out.

 

“What’s wrong?” Cassie asked curiously, although she didn’t bother to raise her head from Karliah’s chest.

 

“Nothing.” Karliah whispered into her hair. “Just thinking about things.”

 

“Things that are making you feel… worried?” Cassie guessed, she was getting better at identifying emotions with precision, at first she could only get a general feeling of good or bad, now she had a couple of emotions she could pin-point like excitement and pride.

 

“It’s something we’ve already spoken about, babes.” She sighed. “If I bring it up again it will start a…” She kissed the top of Cassie’s head, “disagreement.” she finally said.

 

Cassie turned her face up and pouted, “Tell me anyway.”Karliah sighed again.

 

“I don’t feel comfortable with you staying at the Scarlett Moon pack house, I didn’t before because you were away from me all the time but now that feeling has gotten even stronger with the… vampire situation.” She squeezed Cassie in closer. “I don’t want to argue, I know I can’t convince you not to spend time there,” Fingers slid through her curls tenderly. “but I can’t stop my brain from fixating on it - you wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about it if you thought I was in danger.”

 

“I know, I love you.” Cassie pecked at her check. “I don’t want you to feel those feelings though, not just for you but for me too! Your bad emotions ruin my good ones.”

 

“What do you mean?” She seemed genuinely confused, Cassie stared into her eyes for a moment just to be sure though. “I can feel your emotions but they don’t, like, leak into mine?”

 

“Really? Yours always mixes with mine - it can be very confusing!” She complained.

 

“Maybe we could find a compromise, then I wouldn’t have to worry so much?” Karliah’s voice was much softer and Cassie felt her heart strings being pulled.

 

“Have you got something in mind already?”

 

“Well, I know my ideal situation would be for you to stay here and have Sam visit you, but I think second best would be for you to only visit the pack house once a week, then I could take you and stay because I wouldn’t be missing too much work.”

 

“Once a week?” Cassie spluttered. “Don’t you think you’re shooting a bit too low there? I was thinking I would go one day less a week!”

 

“That’s a great start, sweetie.” Karliah pinched her cheeks and pulled an overly fake sympathetic expression. “What if we make this a one day a week cut-down plan? In seven weeks you will be clean and sober!”

 

“That’s not funny,” Cassie pushed her hands away grumpily. “this doesn’t just affect me - Sam is stuck there twenty-four-seven.” A sigh merged into a groan. “He couldn’t leave if he wanted to, I can’t just leave him!”

 

“I know it’s hard for him and I know you care-”

 

“And you owe him.”

 

“Yes.” Karliah huffed. “But I would rather pay him back in any form of currency that isn’t your life - every minute you’re over there is a minute I lose from spending with you!” She paused for a moment. “Also,” She pulled Cassie forward with a sudden yank, bringing them nose to nose. “did you just interrupt me?” She growled the question into Cassie’s ear in that deep, sultry voice that made the sub’s thighs tremble. Cassie took a soft breath and squeezed them together.

 

“What’re you gonna do about it?” She climbed up, pressing herself chest-to-chest against her mate, staring into her steel-grey eyes. “Alpha.” She added, with extra attitude peppered over the word. She could tell Karliah was fighting (very poorly) against a grin as she ran a hand up her back and into her hair, grabbing the curls in a sudden jerking motion to pull her face in close. It hurt, but it also made her cunt squeeze. Dominant Karliah was her favourite Karliah.

 

“I’m going to do what any self-respecting alpha would do when faced with disrespect.” Her voice was firm but not raised.

 

“Run away with your tail between your legs?” It was not something she would ever say in front of an audience, Cassie would never undermine her mate in the presence of others, but she loved to play the naughty submissive behind closed doors and she was worryingly good at it. Karliah groaned, leaned in and nipped at her jaw.

 

“Ugh, I know I’m supposed to be annoyed but I fucking love it when you give me attitude.” Her canines rested against the soft spot beneath Cassie’s ear. “Even that first time in DSH,” She chuckled, “do you have any idea how turned on I was when you called me a- what was it again?”

 

“Inbred?” Cassie snorted, partly in amusement and partly from the tickle of Karliah’s lips against her neck.

 

“And troll.” Karliah mimicked her snort. “And I’m pretty sure ‘the b word’ was used?” She kissed her neck gently.

 

“ME? Swear?” Cassie pulled back, laughing even harder. Karliah flicked her forehead with an easy grin. “I am nothing short of an angel!”

 

“When you want to be.” Karliah chuckled. “Sometimes you can be a little demon.”

 

“And sometimes you can be an overlord.”

 

“That’s my girl.” Karliah stole her lips in a harsh kiss, sucking on them roughly.

 

When she finally released the sub’s lips, Cassie managed to gasp, “I’m thinking that could catch on as your new title,” she grinned cheekily. “forget ‘Alpha Karliah’, I’m gonna have everyone calling you ‘Overlord Karliah’.” she teased.

 

“Call me that outside of this room and I will have to make you cry.” Karliah warned, although her eyes were still sultry.

 

“I would love to see you try.” Cassie murmured, gazing up at her with an expression of heavy arousal. Karliah’s grin told her that’s exactly what she had been hoping she would say. Karliah stood, tossing Cassie onto the bed where she landed on her back, arms up and legs half-open. Karliah took one of her ankles in her hand and yanked her down to the edge of the mattress.

 

“Turn over.” Karliah ordered. Cassie obeyed, despite having had trouble submitting to other dominants, it was increasingly easy to do as her mate commanded. She didn’t feel her pride bubbling with indignity when she was given an instruction by her. She felt peace, a sense of security and even accomplishment when she could follow orders perfectly.

 

Karliah lifted Cassie’s skirt and let it fold back on itself, leaving her barely-covered-bottom out on show, she suddenly regretted wearing such tiny panties. She pushed her weight from foot to foot, bicycling her legs as she waited for whatever her lover had in store for her.

 

“When was the last time you were spanked?” Karliah’s hands trailed over her upper thighs, the crease of her cheeks, over the mounds…

 

“By you?” Cassie asked cheekily. A sharp pain cracked across her butt, the sound made her jump more than the feeling. She whined as she released her breath, sounding almost winded. “Maybe a week or two?” She begrudgingly answered.

 

“Mm.” The hand that had struck her slid over her skin again, her fingers spread wide. “Do you think you could handle something.. more?”

 

“More?” That pricked her interest.

 

“More than my hand or a plastic ruler…” 

 

“Like what?” 

 

Karliah leant over her, bringing her lips in close to Cassie’s ear, “Belt?” she murmured. Cassie hesitated, her panties were already becoming damp and she wanted a hot dose of pain to mix with her pleasure… But this was a leap, one that she had no experience in… But it was Karliah, she would never take it too far…

 

“Yes.” She whispered, keeping her eyes down on the bedding.

 

Karliah took her curls between her fingers again, tilting her head to force eye contact, “Are you sure?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“You tell me if it gets too intense.” Cassie tried to nod but the grip in her hair held her steady. “Say it, promise me you’ll tell me if it’s too much.”

 

“I promise.”

 

“Good girl.” She peppered light kisses down her throat and sucked on the nape of her neck, Cassie keened at the soft attention. When Karliah stepped away she felt a rush of excitement and nerves hit her and shivers threatened her thighs. The sound of a leather belt unbuckling and slipping through the hoops of Karliah’s jeans silenced every other noise in the room, Cassie’s mind filled with the soft rustle.

 

When the leather brushed against her skin, her fingers clenched in the sheets and her eyes squeezed shut, she could do this, she could do it. The belt pulled away. When it snapped back to her behind, the pain bit at her skin with an intensity she had never experienced before, sharp and wicked in it’s strike but also leaving a throbbing warmth when the belt drew away again. Her mouth had fallen open and her eyes squeezed shut from the initial strike but when it’s follower arrived her eyes flew open again and she gasped, loudly.

 

“You okay, baby?” Karliah asked, her voice unwavering.

 

“Uh… yes.” She breathed. Yes, this wasn’t as bad as she could have imagined, and a spanking is what she had been hoping for when she started back-talking, she would feel disappointed and pent up with energy if she didn’t get it now.

 

“You know you can tell me if it’s not.”

 

“I know.” Before the second word had fully left her lips another swipe sliced diagonally across her cheeks, she whimpered pitifully in response. The second hit quickly followed and the real spanking began.

 

This time she didn’t get breaks between hits, they continued with a steady rhythm, biting at her skin and drawing heat to the surface of her blushing bottom. Cassie cried out at every single hit without fail. The centre of her panties were sticking to her from arousal, her mate’s dominance rolling over her in waves, so strong, so powerful, so controlled. She loved her, so much.

 

The sensations built and built, not just the delicious and shocking initial contact but the agonising and bruising pain of all the previous blows. Tears had pooled in her eyes but she managed to hold them there, blurring her vision. She was panting a little, more from her own sexual desire than physical exertion - after all, Karliah was the one doing all the work.

 

The pain layered up until Cassie lost count of how many strikes she had taken but still she managed to hold back the tears, crying out verbally only. With a particularly punishing swat, it was over.

 

Cassie heard the belt clatter to the floor, felt her mate’s hands on her, rolling her over. Face to face with Karliah, her lover, her alpha, her everything. When their eyes met, Cassie felt her face crumple, her lips trembling and her tears finally spilling over. The release of so many pent up emotions she didn’t know had been waiting to be detoxed in the form of tears. Karliah took her face in her long fingers, running the pads of her thumbs over her cheeks, collecting the dewy droplets resting there.

 

“You’re even beautiful when you cry.” Karliah’s own face was painted with a mixture of sympathy, satisfaction and admiration. “You did so well baby, I’m so proud of you.”

 

Cassie sniffed, “I know, I can feel it.” she tried to crack a smile but her lips were still trembling and she could tell that made it wonky. Karliah smiled warmly and scooped her up, her splayed legs resting either side of the alpha’s hips.

 

“Stop eavesdropping on my emotions.” She laughed into Cassie’s wild curls. Her hands adjusted themselves under Cassie’s butt, squeezing at the welted flesh until she jerked away with a whine. “So cute.” Karliah murmured.

 

“So sore.” Cassie mumbled back, although she also felt so complete… she didn’t always like to admit how much she liked Karliah putting her in her place, she had never understood how someone could take pleasure in being submissive before Karliah kicked her way into her life. Karliah laughed again and climbed onto the bed, lowered Cassie into the centre, adjusted the blankets and pulled her in for cuddles.

 

“Such a good girl.” Cassied keened at the praise, snuggling in closer and mewling when Karliah pressed a kiss to her forehead.

 

~

 

“It took a bit of a fight and one of our men took a nasty bite but we managed to search his pockets and confiscate his bag.” The man walked as he talked, leading them through to a side room opposite the cell.

 

“What did you find?” Markus asked. The door was closed behind them and they stood around a small table with a chair on each side, on the table sat a miniature backpack, some spare change and a chain necklace.

 

“Money, bag and necklace - we haven’t looked in the bag yet…” Markus’ father pulled the tiny bag towards him and unzipped it before pouring out the contents onto the table. A notebook, pen and map were all that was inside. The map was familiar, it documented the territory of Scarlett Moon in detail far greater than would be available on google maps or any online search. Markus picked up the notebook and a piece of shiny card fell out, he caught it before it hit the table but froze when his eyes focused and he realised what he was holding. A polaroid. A polaroid of Sam, taken from a distance but close enough that his side profile was easily distinguishable.

 

“This is-” His breath caught in his throat, he almost called Sam his mate in front of his father. “This… is the omega.” His father snatched the photo from his hand.

 

“Are you sure?” He held it up to the light, squinting. Markus’ wolf bristled, he could find Sam in a line-up with only a freckle on show. He knew every inch of his mate.

 

“Positive.” He grunted.

 

“Open the notebook.” His father commanded. He flipped open the first page but it was blank, he flipped through until he got three-quarters of the way in and found a list of scrawled notes:

 

__Sam (Samuel?) Hall - Markus Murphy - Scarlett Moon_ _

__4feet ?? inches (Closer look needed)_ _

__

__Academy school / Kitchen - see blueprints_ _

__

__Vampire hanging around - Friend? Lover? POSSIBLE MATCH WITH GODFRY_ _

__

__13669031_ _

__

“For fucks sake.” Markus whispered, Charles was right. That stupid fucking vampire had known! ‘I have a feeling…’ my arse, he thought, he was involved somehow. He turned the pad around to show his father, who huffed as he read through it.

 

“Who would be interested in an omega?” He scoffed, giving the guard a jovial look of ‘what is the world coming to?’ which the young man chuckled in response to. His father’s eyes flicked lazily over the lines a second time, but this time he frowned. “Your name is on here next to his…” He yanked the book out of Markus’ hand and held it up to his face with a hand on his hip. “And who the fuck is Godfry?”

 

“I don’t know, dad.”

 

“Well, we’re going to find out.” He grumbled, “Markus, get to bed and rest up. I want you back here bright and early tomorrow morning - I think it’s time I taught you the art of interrogation.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone who comments on Make Me Beg and Hold Me Close - nothing gives me a kick in the butt to write like comments do! If it weren't for the amazing people that comment I wouldn't have been able to post this chapter! 
> 
> Thank you again <3


	6. CHAPTER FIVE

Markus could tell his father was becoming fatigued, his lightly wrinkled forehead was just a little too shiny. As much as the alpha didn’t want to admit it, he couldn’t keep this up forever, and the vampire didn’t seem to actually be taking any damage. He cried out, grunted and groaned, but not a single mark appeared on his skin and the only real words they had beaten out of him were curse words and vague threats. Markus didn’t believe his pained expressions and moans for a second, he was young but he hadn’t been born yesterday - did he really think they were stupid enough to believe his crappy acting?

 

“Who do you work for?” His father growled, slamming his fist into the man’s face again. If Markus hadn’t been taught better he would have told his dad to give up, they had been at it for hours, since the literal break of dawn. His father had beaten and kicked him continuously, mercilessly, and not a drop of blood had broken out from the man’s skin.

 

“Ughhh.” The vampire shook his head and looked away. “It’s not that simple to say…” Markus blinked. Were they getting somewhere? He said a silent prayer in his head to the Goddess to thank her for giving him the strength not to question his father.

 

“I have plenty of time.” His father stepped back, folding his tree trunk arms over his chest and watching the vampire carefully.

 

“We… I… am part of a coven that is one of… a group of covens under the orders of… a council, of sorts.”

 

“I’ve never heard of covens working together,” Said Markus, it was the first time he had spoken since entering the interrogation room. “isn’t ‘stay out of my yard’ the vampire motto?” The man remained silent at first until Markus’ father kicked him between the legs.

 

“Usually,” The man gasped out. “but the council gave our leaders an offer they couldn’t refuse.” His speech was muffled by his gritted teeth.

 

“Are we talking money or power?” His father growled. The vampire snorted and rolled his eyes and the room fell into silence. “What’s wrong? Your super-hearing only work long distance? Answer me!” He yanked the man forward by his dirty shirt and cracked his fist across his temple. The man gritted his teeth against any sounds that tried to escape and his father hit him again, and again.

 

“Both!” The man shouted. “And… slaves, blood slaves.” Markus’ father’s face hardened.

 

“Blood slaves?” Markus blurted, he had never heard the term before.

 

“I will say no more!” The man roared, suddenly enraged. He threw himself forward, his canines bared. Markus lunged forward but immediately realised he had panicked too quickly when his father caught him by the throat and slammed him to the wall, putting his foot up on his chest to pin him in place. Vampires were faster but werewolves were stronger, and in this tiny cube of a room there was no where to run.

 

“Either you tell me more, or I rip your throat out.”

 

“You’re going to kill me eventually anyway!” The man’s eyes were crazy, wide and darting to and fro. The tension in the room had escalated so quickly, Markus wasn’t sure how to assist but felt stupid standing back and watching the chaos. The man was screaming and thrashing now but unable to wriggle his way out from under Markus’ father’s foot.

 

“Last chance.”

 

“I will fucking kill you!” The man yelled. His father nodded to himself, as though he had been expecting this, and ripped his hand back, taking the man’s neck and head with it. Markus managed to hold back his retch but still winced a little, he was lucky his pack hadn’t been in many conflicts and he hadn’t seen a massive amount of bloodshed, but he doubted that would help him feel less sickened by watching a head popped clean off like a bottle cap from a beer.

 

He didn’t know if it was better or worse that there was no blood.

 

~

 

It had been a while since Sam had had more than ten minutes alone aside from sleeping, with the rogue vampire sending the pack into a frenzy all week it felt like people were constantly buzzing around, no one could sit still. Markus had been the worst, hanging around constantly and making Charles feel uncomfortable. His friend would never say it but Sam could tell. For some reason, Markus had been missing all morning, Sam had heard rumours about a vampire being caught on the grounds but he didn’t believe it - vampires at top speed could sometimes surpass the perception of the human eye, a pack of werewolves couldn’t match that.

 

“I don’t mean to intrude on your five minutes of silence,” Charles called in, hanging from the doorway, “but I thought I would grab the opportunity to see you while your magnanimous leader was busy committing a war crime.” Sam blinked, putting down the potato he had been peeling.

 

“He’s doing what?” He asked softly.

 

“Beating up a vampire they found prowling the grounds,” He pushed away from the door frame, looking if not tired then definitely exasperated. “not one of ours,” He added. “not that they bothered to ask before hauling him off.” He shook his head and strode to the island, resting his weight on his elbows there.

 

“I’m not sure what to say about that…” Sam mumbled. “I didn’t think vampires could be hurt… Physically.”

 

“That’s the thing, we feel pain, our bodies just don’t break easily so it takes a lot of effort to kill us.”

 

“So, if someone stabs you,” Sam waved the peeler in his direction theatrically. “you’d feel the pain of something hitting you even if your skin doesn’t break?”

 

“Exactly, everything is blunt pain.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“Don’t get me wrong, I am glad they caught him - I didn’t like the way you said he was taking photos of you,” Sam felt his cheeks heat a little at the thought. “but I also favour a more diplomatic approach…” He sighed, “Not that I saw them, it might not even be the same vampire, this could be a multiple-man operation…” he pursed his lips for a moment, pulling one of the first truly sour expressions Sam had see grace his face. It quickly vanished. “My apologies, this isn’t what I came down here for.” He leant forward with a slightly mischievous grin, Sam leant over the other side, bringing their faces close. “I wanted to give you something I picked up the other day.” From behind his back he presented a small package wrapped in white and blue paper, Sam could tell without touching that it was a book. “Just something to maybe give you some relief from the chaos surrounding Scarlett Moon at the moment.” He added with a small smile.

 

Sam took the package carefully, “Th-thank you so much,” his tripped over his words, feeling flustered and nervous about accepting the gift. “this is really too kind, I-”

 

“Will read it and love it and keep it safe forever? Perfect, just as I had hoped.” He flicked Sam’s forehead gently and sat back on a stool. Sam clutched the book to his chest.

 

“Yes, but-”

 

“But you have lots to do and would like to relish your peace while you can get it, understood - I shall leave you to it.” He winked and stood again.

 

“Ri-right, thank you again.”

 

“No problem, Sammy.” He vanished quicker than he had appeared, which Sam was almost glad for as his cheeks had blossomed with even more heat at being called ‘Sammy’ by someone who wasn’t Cassie. Was it strange to say that something about it felt… intimate? He didn’t normally get called by anything other than omega or perhaps a rude slur.

 

He decided to open his present before anyone could interrupt him, especially Markus. Sam didn’t want to think about what he was supposedly doing behind closed doors right then, he liked to think he didn’t have that much cruelty within him. Sam peeled the tape off carefully and slid the book out of the paper without ripping it.

 

It was a copy of ‘Sepulchre’ by Kate Mosse, a meaty volume with a red cover. He opened the first page and found a note scrawled inside in black pen:

 

‘A book is a gift you can open again and again - Garrison Keillor. I hope you like the gift, it’s one of my favourites. I can’t wait to relive it when you’ve finished and we can discuss it over tea. Your friend, Charles’

 

Sam smiled at the book, then at the open door where Charles had left and then back at the book again. He would definitely be putting his peace and quiet to good use.

 

~

 

The subs and Karliah lounged around an empty classroom devouring their lunches, Karliah and Cassie’s salads were identical, both prepared by the alpha herself and accompanied by fruit juices. Karliah wasn’t going to have her mate running on junk and Cassie seemed excited at the thought of having abs like hers one day. Maybe she would have to throw in the occasional candy bar in Cassie’s to stop that from happening…

 

“I got my invitation to your bonding ceremony.” Said Hanmi to Cassie. “They’re beautiful!”

 

“Thanks! It took a while to pick them out but I think they’re perfect.” Karliah trailed her hand along Cassie’s back, her baby looked so happy, she wanted that expression glued to her face.

 

“They are, I got mine too!” Jasper added. Aminali nodded in agreement, her mouth full of PB&J.

 

“So, you guys can come?”

 

“Of course!” Aminali beamed. “I can’t believe you’re having your bonding ceremony in your first year at the academy!”

 

“Well, technically it’ll be between years.” Karliah clarified, “I can’t believe how quickly summer has come…” The ceremony felt like it was hurtling towards them. Of course, there was no chance of getting cold feet, they were already marked, but the pressure was going to be on her on the day as it would be her first event containing multiple pack leaders where she was the lead, it was her ceremony, she was the one who had to make the solid and strong impression.

 

Cassie would be under a microscope too but her role was that of the charming alpha female, she just needed to swan through smiling and looking beautiful - something she was already perfect at. She did it every day in her new pack, they were all charmed by her from day one - especially Karliah’s mother, you’d think she had birthed a gremlin the way she described Karliah growing up.

 

“Always so muddy! Always so rough!” Her mother exclaimed, tickling laughs from Cassie with her anecdotes. “Do you know how excited I was to find out I had a daughter instead of a son only for that daughter to run wild like a wilder-beast?” Karliah had rolled her eyes at that, her mother had plenty of daughters now - not just biological but in-law as well! She hoped it would be enough, finally having someone to play dress-up with that didn’t wear huggies, a ‘girly-girl’ to chat to and exchange make-up tips with. Karliah never liked her mother messing with her hair, always afraid she would cut it short, make her look like a boy, but she had found Cassie sitting on the floor of her mother’s en suite on numerous occasions since she moved in, her hair gleaming with smelly oils and pastes, being braided into extravagant styles and adorned with silver charms and hoops. If it kept her mother out her own hair, metaphorically and literally, then that was fine with her.

 

 Karliah didn’t find it as easy as her teeny mate did to assimilate herself into new groups, new environments. If things had been the other way round, if she would have had to move into Scarlett Moon at such short notice, she didn’t think she would have melted in as easily as Cassie had in her own pack. That was part of the reason she kept letting Cassie win their arguments about her staying away from her old pack house, because she knew that if it were her she would find it heartbreakingly hard to leave her family and friends like that.

 

“I hope we get to attend lots more bonding ceremonies in our second year.” Aminali’s booming voice cut through her thoughts like soft cheese. “it’s sad that so many packs don’t practice the tradition any more!” Karliah blinked for a moment as she caught up and then went back to eating her salad.

 

“You just love an excuse to dress up and act a fool.” Jasper laughed.

 

“Speaking of mates,” Aminali rounded on him like a fox that had cornered its hen. “how’s Miss USA?” She raised her brows teasingly at him but his happy-go-lucky attitude seemed to shrivel away at the mention of Alexa.

 

Jasper shrugged, “She’s fine.” he said.

 

“Oof, that’s not good.” Cassie muttered.

 

“I mean, I suspected things would go awry,” Aminali announced to no one in particular, “they have the exact same hair, that’s not normal.” her wisdom was swiftly ignored, although Karliah realised she had never noticed before that both Alexa and Jasper had short blonde hair… Alexa’s was lighter though… So there was a slight difference.

 

“What? Things are normal… boring…”

 

“Would Alexa say the same?” Cassie looked to Karliah as she asked the question but the alpha slurped on her juice, making it clear she didn’t plan to comment on her friend’s love life. Jasper sighed.

 

“No, she would say I’m a brat.”

 

“But you are a brat?” Aminali said, waving a candy bar around dramatically.

 

“Yeah, but I think it bothers her.”

 

“Cassie’s kinda bratty too, right Karliah?” This time the alpha had been openly addressed and couldn’t feign indifference. They were all waiting for her answer, watching her curiously, even Cassie. She swallowed her pineapple juice and frowned.

 

“Yes,” She hesitated, “but there’s a slight… difference between them.”

 

“That being?” Aminali prompted.

 

“She knows when to quit it, I like to think she has respect for me as her dominant.” She turned to Jasper and pointed her bottle at him. “You show zero respect to anyone, including Alexa.” Jasper blinked and his cheeks tinted with just a little pink. “You’re a submissive, that means you are actually supposed to submit - even if only to your mate.” This rubbed some of the subs in the room up the wrong way, visibly. Aminali and Jasper both pulled looks of disgust, while Sam and Hanmi both nodded, Sam much more enthusiastically.

 

“She’s supposed to be my soul mate,” Jasper grumbled. “not my superior officer!”

 

“Right,” Karliah said carefully. “but that doesn’t mean you have to go out of your way to undermine her.”

 

“Why do you dominants care so much about respect and authority?” He rolled his eyes and Aminali did the same, Cassie, Sam and Hanmi looked away awkwardly. “There are more important things in this world than whether or not people obey you.”

 

“It’s hard-wired into us, I suppose, an innate need.” Karliah answered, trying to keep her cool. Submissives could never understand the urges dominants felt.

 

“Can we just stop talking about it now,” He huffed. “I think this should be something I duke out with Alexa.”

 

“Agreed. Although if I were you I wouldn’t ‘duke’ anything out with Alexa, she’s kind of a bad ass.”

 

“Noted.” Jace smiled softly.

 

~

 

“I understand your frustrations, ma’am, but your son’s death is not our top priority at this moment in time - you are aware we have rogue vampires roaming our lands at the moment, aren’t you?”

 

“My son died in your custody, Alpha Murphy.” The woman was shaking with rage. “And it has been weeks I have been left with no word of how or why or who.”

 

“His death could be connected to the vampire situation, did you ever think of that?”

 

“There are many others I would consider suspects first, sir.” She spat. “Like the Silver Crescent alpha, it was her mate he attacked.”

 

“In which case I wouldn’t blame her if she did do it, I would do the same.” Markus’ father answered sternly. “But not only does she have an alibi, I doubt she would use a knife to take your son’s life. You wouldn’t understand, not being a dominant yourself, but if my mate were attacked as savagely as Miss Linette was, I would kill their attacker with my bare hands. Slowly. As painfully as possible.”

 

“Are you saying I should be grateful that my son died quickly?”

 

“I’m saying that the way he died makes it harder to gain insight on who we can consider a suspect - we believe the killer to be either a weak dominant or, possibly, a submissive. However, we can’t pursue this case fully while we are fearing for our pack member’s lives.”

 

“You have a son,” She whispered. “only one, just like I did. Can you not find an ounce of sympathy in your heart for his lost life?”

 

“If my son committed the type of crime yours did, I would kill him myself.” His father replied coldly, glaring at the visibly shocked woman. “Good day to you, ma’am.” He nodded and returned to his work without another look in her direction.

 

“Allow me to walk you out.” Markus offered, stepping forward with an outstretched arm. She huffed and shrugged him off, marching out and slamming the door behind her.

 

“Nice to know there are circumstances where you would happily consider executing me.” Markus grumbled, quickly tacking on ‘sir’ after a pause.

 

“Are there circumstances where you would happily consider rape and assault?” He asked, never looking up from his paperwork.

 

“Of course not, sir.”

 

“Then I don’t need to worry about your demise.”

 

“Yes, sir.” Markus bobbed his head and left, closing the door shut carefully behind him. He never did think he would figure his father out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Which characters would you guys like to see more of? 
> 
> I'm never sure if I'm giving too much spotlight to the wrong characters. Please let me know who you would like to get more 'screen time'! ;)


	7. CHAPTER SIX

When Sam was informed by the pack beta passing through the kitchen (‘hunting’ down a snack) that Markus had asked for him in the study, he hurried to finish his polishing and ran up the stairs to answer as quickly as possible, if he took too long he might get punished. When he finally reached the door he knocked gently although his breaths were still a little ragged from the stairs.

“Come in.” Came his mate’s voice.

“You called, sir?” Sam asked as he stepped in. Markus watched him carefully but said nothing, he was stood at the back of the room looking lost in his thoughts. “Sir, did you need me to do something for you?” The alpha walked around the desk, never taking his eyes off Sam’s face, as though he were worried he would forget him. When he reached the door he looked away to open it and hover in the doorway.

“Stay in here.” He said sternly.

“Stay, sir?” Sam repeated, looking around in confusion, the office looked spotless… As far as he could tell there was no cleaning to be done.

“Yeah, don’t leave.”

“But-” And with that Markus shut the door. Sam strode forward to open it again but heard the ‘clunk’ of the lock turning into place and froze. “H-hey! What’re you doing? Don’t leave me in here!” What on Earth was Markus doing? His behaviours and motivations were never consistent normally but this was odd even for him.

“It’s okay, I’ll be back.” Was all he replied through the door.

“Of course you have to come back eventually!” Sam called through the door angrily. “When?” No answer. “Sir?” Not a sound. He tried the handle, yanking it up and down frantically but it wouldn’t budge.

~

Markus knew it wasn’t a bright idea but it was the first idea that popped into his head. He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about the vampire interrogation all week and every time he glanced at Sam it made his muscles lock up, his jaw clench and his heart race. The polaroid in particular had cemented itself behind his eyelids, his delicate side profile burned into his retinas. And Charles, he knew that no-good son of a bitch was finding ways to get close to him when Markus wasn’t around, and he was hanging around a lot more now. Sometimes just outside the kitchen, positioned at a side table pretending to check his phone and waiting… He never saw him go in but he was almost certain he was still managing to find brief slots of time to get Sam alone. The weekdays it was easier, it wasn’t like the creep could show up at the academy - he was way past school-age!

But now that it was back to the weekend again, a full week since the interrogation, Markus was more on edge than ever. His father had barely mentioned what had happened in the basement with him and he knew better than to ask before the old man was ready to divulge his thoughts. He worried that his father wasn’t taking it seriously enough though, not that he had any power to say so - and knew it would be in the best interest of his heath if he didn’t. Maybe that wasn’t quite true… his father was taking the threat against the pack as a whole seriously and the whole concept of a ‘council’ looking to turn them into ‘blood slaves’… it was the targeting of his mate he didn’t feel was being given enough attention. Sam was the only one they had taken a photo of, he was the one they had notes on - with Markus’ name attached which the more he thought about, the less it could be a coincidence. Who Godfry was and what the numbers were he still hadn’t worked out. It said the vampire hanging around Sam was a ‘possible match’ for ‘Godfry’ though and Markus wouldn’t put it past the pale perv to be using a fake name to get close to Sam, every word that came out of his mouth was probably a lie. He already seemed to know too much about the vampire threat, but Markus’ father had shrugged him off before when he mentioned Charles’ comments, his ‘I have a feeling’ bullshit.

All these thoughts and theories swirling on his mind for a week, riling him up… the moment he laid eyes on Sam when he walked into the office his wolf was instantly awoke, he needed to protect him, he had to keep him safe, away from the vampires, there was too much they didn’t know and all they did know was Sam was a part of it. Blood slaves… Markus shuddered, there was no way in hell he or his mate would become blood slaves, he liked his fluids kept in his body where they belonged.

The look on Sam’s face when he locked him in though, that expression pressed against his brain painfully, his annoyance at himself only grew - what kind of person was so weak they could be shaken by a look? Ridiculous.

But he was safe, and he knew where he was, he couldn’t leave, couldn’t disappear with Charles.

What was happening to him? He shook his head and slumped away to his room, he could do some of the work his father had set him in there. He just hoped the old man didn’t decide to try and use his office for the rest of the day…

~

Markus plumped his pillows, pulled his personal laptop out from under his desk and began opening all the files his father had emailed to him, he was to proof-read some statements to be made to the pack at the next meeting, log the expenses for the week in the monthly spend report, check the list of signatures on a petition put forward and make sure every name was not only a member of their pack but that no one had been entered two or more times, a whole host of emails that needed to be sent for services they required from outside the pack…

~

Sam had paced the office for hours, waiting for Markus’ return. There was no food, and he had looked everywhere, but there was a large, unopened bottle of water behind the desk that he had been sipping on every once in a while, trying to ration it as long as he could.

His stomach growled and his feet hurt but his most pressing concern was still how much trouble he would be in for not getting his chores done, even if Markus let him out then he wouldn’t have enough time to get it all done. So much for his plan to blast through his housework and then spend the rest of his Saturday reading ‘Sepulchre’.

~

With the new-found peace that had washed over Markus knowing his mate was safe in the office, locked away from creepy crypt-dwellers, he had found it easy to let himself become utterly absorbed in his spreadsheets and forms, his focus unwavering for hours until only the almost-painful growling of his stomach was able to wake him from his daze. He sighed, stretching his arms above his head and grunting at the clicks of his shoulders.

He saved all the documents he was working on and padded out of his wrong in search of a late lunch.

When he reached the kitchen he froze. Sam. He was still in the office. Markus felt a bubbling of guilt in his stomach… or maybe that was just the acid built up from not eating all day. Eat first, feel guilty later, he decided.

~

Sam’s body ached, he didn’t want to sit on the hard floor and he didn’t want to sit in Alpha Murphy’s chair, so he had continued to walk back and forth. The bottoms of his feet and the sides of his toes burned. Back and forth. Back and forth.

One side to the other.

And back again.

~

After he had polished off his heavy-weight wrestlers lunch, Markus dropped his plates in the sink and returned to his room to decide what to do. He plopped his butt down on the edge of his bed and groaned. He still had work to do… but now that he had remembered Sam he couldn’t stop thinking about him. He is safe, was all the advice his wolf offered. It had been a long time though, he fidgeted with his feet as he weighed up his options. Either way, Sam was going to be mad whether he let him out then or later. If he let him out earlier, that would give Charles a chance to swoop in and brainwash him some more… If he let him out later… there were no downsides to later, Markus concluded. He was safe, that was what mattered.

Until they would rule Charles out from being part of the ‘council’ conspiracy, until the ‘council’ was definitely no longer a threat, then it was normal for Markus to be more protective than normal, surely? He comforted himself with that thought, but it wasn’t enough for him to be able to continue his work, his focus had been broken and now his thoughts wandered back to his mate every few minutes.

~

The ache had travelled from Sam’s feet, up his calves and soaked into his knees. He had tried sitting down on the floor a few times but it was hard and uncomfortable and dug into his thin limbs.

Eventually the fatigue and aching grew too much, he had been in there so long, with no energy and no food. He gave in, slumped in a corner behind the desk. The floor dug into his back and he allowed his body to slide down until he was completely horizontal and then curled up on his side, doing his best to ignore the cold, hard floor pressing into his ribs.

It wasn’t long before he passed out from a combination of hunger and fatigue. Darkness swept over him as he shivered on the floor.

~

Markus checked his phone for what felt like the thousandth time since he had finished his lunch, it was dinner time, not that he was hungry after eating enough that afternoon to feed a herd of horses. Most of the pack ate breakfast and dinner together in the main hall around the same time but it wasn’t a rule. He decided he couldn’t keep the omega locked up any longer, not only because of all the dishes that would need washing in an hour’s time.

He sighed and stood, stretching his arms, shoulders and back a couple of times before striding to the door, he had been sat in the same hunched, anxious position for hours but somehow he still felt tired and achy.

When he reached the office he unlocked as quietly as he could and slipped inside. After he shut the door he looked around but Sam was nowhere to be seen. His heart was slamming against his chest in an instant, adrenaline filling his system. There was no way, the windows were in tact, the door had still been locked when he arrived and there was no other way into the room, no ceiling tiles, not silly trap doors or tunnels. No one could have stolen him without leaving some kind of evidence.

“Omega?” He called stomping round the desk angrily, if he wasn’t taken.. no, he didn’t like to even entertain the thought that Sam could have escaped, there was no way he would have jumped out the window, it was far too dangerous. As he rounded the desk he noticed a small lump on the floor in the corner of the room. “Sam?” He called. “Sam! Wake up!”

He pulled the smaller boy up in his arms and into his lap, tucking his arms in against his chest and pulling at his cheeks, “Hey,” he said softly, “come on, it’s not bedtime yet.” he felt an instant rush of embarrassment at his own words, he sounded like an idiot. He mumbled something and shifted a little but didn’t open his eyes. Markus poked at him again and tried to pull him upright but the smaller boy flopped around in his arms lifelessly.

Markus began to panic just a little.

~

“Sam, come on, you can’t nap here.”

Sam’s head hurt… and his joints ached… and he was cold… and hungry. He could feel himself being dragged around as though he were made of goo, unable to hold himself up in whatever position he was manipulated into. He groaned again, he had no energy to move and even being moved by someone or something else was tiring him out even more.

“Just open your eyes for me, just for a second.” The voice said. Sam whined in the back of his throat but managed to pry one eye open with a mean-looking squint. To his surprise, Markus was staring down at him, and he was in his lap. Markus. Sam couldn’t quite string his thoughts together, couldn’t make the connections between ideas. There was something he needed to tell Markus, it had been very important… if only he could remember what it was.

Markus was moving him again, pulling him up so that the side of his face rested against Markus’ chest.

“What the hell are you doing on the floor?” He asked.

“Tired.” Sam managed to sigh out in one slow breath.

“Well then you need to get up and go to bed then.” Markus chastised. Sam ‘mm’d but didn’t move, his body was both sore and boneless and the thing he needed to tell his alpha was still slowly piecing itself together in his brain. “Up you get.” Markus ordered, although neither male moved. Suddenly, the words sprung to Sam’s mouth, he took a deep breath, gathering all of his remaining energy.

“I have to tell you something.” He whispered.

“I know, I’m a jerk for locking you away like that, but-”

“No, it’s important.” There was an eeny meeny part of him that had a red warning light flashing but at the time he didn’t know why, he would later realise it was that he had just interrupted an alpha. Markus pulled a face he couldn’t decipher with his eyes only half-open so he added, “It’s a secret.” with a pout.

“What?” Markus snapped, losing patience quickly.

“It was me.” Sam closed his eyes slowly, losing his fight against consciousness with every millimetre. “I killed Brandon.” He slurred the name, but he knew he said it, and he knew Markus heard it. And with that, sleep took him again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone that voted on the last chapter for which characters you would like to see more of! As of me posting this chapter the most popular characters were Sam, Markus, Alexa and Jasper! So I will do my best to include more content for them than I would have before!
> 
> For this week I'd love to hear what kind of scenes you like best (and would like more of, potentially) - fluffy, sexy, angsty? Something else? Let me know in the comments and I'll take the votes on board!


	8. CHAPTER SEVEN

Sam’s breaths were slow and soft, his thin shoulders curled inwards and his chin tucked down. Markus pulled the blankets up a little for the thousandth time, covering him to the point of his pale chin. He still couldn’t believe the words he had heard him mumble… He couldn’t believe Sam had even said it let alone that he had actually done it. ‘I Killed Brandon.’, Markus kept going over homophones in his mind, trying to find a three-letter sentence that sounded anything like what he thought he heard. And if Sam did say it, if he really did admit to killing the crazed beta, why would he say it to him? Did he think it was a joke? Cassie was his closest friend, Markus figured he would take the incident a little more seriously.

 

He let his fingers follow the curve of Sam’s round jaw, to his ear and back down his soft pillowy cheek, tracing over his freckles with the lightest touch Markus had ever attempted to use in his life. He decided to push the thought from his mind, it was most likely just a delirious rambling, people said all kinds of strange things when they were unwell. Markus was a notorious sleep-talker as a child and the things he would come out with always had his friends in stitches during sleepovers. There was no point dwelling on the confession, it wasn’t physically possible for an omega to kill a beta.

 

Sam had slept consistently soundly since Markus had plopped him into his plush mattress and wrapped him up like a baby burrito but if he didn’t wake up soon, Markus was considering giving him a little shake… As angelic as he looked all bundled up and warm, his stomach had growled a few times as he snoozed.

 

At the same time… Markus never got to feel the kind of peace and tranquillity that exuded from his mate when he was relaxed, the last time he remembered feeling this pure soothing sensation was literally the night he discovered his mate was his, another night of staring at Sam’s sleeping face…

 

Just as he was leaning in to give him a wiggle, Sam mumbled something and began to push himself up, Markus shushed him gently and pulled him in close, dragging his finger tips through the smaller boy’s chocolate mop.

 

“Hey.” He whispered.

 

“Hi.” Sam whispered back groggily.

 

“How’re you feeling?”

 

“M’hungry.” He buried his face into Markus’ chest and the alpha had to remind himself to breath, why was this tiny wolf so damn adorable? It was almost physically painful.

 

“I’ll get you something,” He mumbled into the crown of Sam’s head. “what do you want?”

 

“I can…” Sam began to push up from Markus’ chest, “I can find something, I have leftovers in the fridge…” when his hands slid in Markus’ shirt the alpha grabbed his torso and stabilised him before sitting up, holding him close to his chest like he would a puppy.

 

“I can find my way around the kitchen,” He continued to keep his voice low and hushed, “you stay here, you don’t have the energy to spare.” Sam was so cute in this sleepy, dazed, mumble-y phase, the last thing Markus wanted was for him to wake up fully. With the slowest and gentlest touch he managed to turn the pair of them over and then release Sam, dragging his hands over his skinny warm arms and climbing out of the bed.

 

He pulled the thick duvet up to Sam’s nose and leant in to stare down into his half-lidded eyes, usually a bright powder blue but now in the dim room they had darkened to a deep navy. Markus hovered for a few moments and Sam blinked up at him as though he were looking straight through his forehead. Such a sweet and tranquil expression that it drew Markus forward like a magnet until his deep breaths were rustling the dark hair on the omega’s forehead, that magnetic force was definitely what drew him to press his lips against Sam’s warm forehead, definitely. When he pulled back, Sam’s eyes were closed.

 

~

 

In the kitchen, Markus pulled out a selection of cardboard boxes from the cupboards, a handful of fruit from the bowl and a bag of gummy candies he spotted tucked behind the bread bin. With his impressive stash tucked in his arms he crept back out, turning the light off behind him to plunge the ground floor back into darkness again. His ears were pricked the entire journey back up the stairs, listening out for any night-owls who might spot him smuggling his midnight meal-for-ten.

 

When he reached the top floor he dimmed the lights that had been left on and slipped back through his bedroom door, keeping the edge as close to his body as possible so as not to let in any unnecessary light.

 

Sam hadn’t moved even an eyelash since Markus left, he still looked like a swaddled angel. Markus released his stolen snacks onto the bed with a much louder clatter than he had been expecting, he winced and peeked over at Sam nervously, the smaller boy’s eyes cracked open and he struggled weakly against the heavy blanket on his chest.

 

“Easy,” Markus whispered, pulling the duvet back from Sam’s toasty skin and prying him out from the confines of the soft mattress by his armpits. “I got all kinds of fun things from the kitchen, these sweets yours? I found them hiding out behind the bread.” Once he was sat upright opposite him, Markus handed over the sweets.

 

“Mm, yeah,” Sam turned the brightly coloured bag over in his hands, “I didn’t even… know they did bags of just the worms,” he blinked sleepily and took a deep breath. “Charles got them for me.” Markus bristled but managed to hold his tongue, of course Charles bought him snacks, probably trying to fatten him up to eat him.

 

“Well, I also brought these.” He tried to draw Sam’s attention to the snacks that the vampire didn’t buy. He spread the array of cardboard boxes he had found in the cupboard in front of him for the omega’s perusal. Sam blinked up at him, then back down at the selection.

 

“Sir, that’s kraft mac and cheese.” He held up the nearest box in the dim light, presumably to confirm his diagnosis and then placed it to one side.

 

“Yeah?” Mac and cheese was edible, Markus thought, what’s the problem? Sam began to laugh quietly, then louder and louder until he almost knocked himself over in his hilarity. Markus steadied him, perhaps he was delirious, he thought. “What’s so funny?” Markus asked. Sam shook his head and took the next item in the line-up.

 

“This is a three-year-old gingerbread house kit,” He piled the second box onto the mac and cheese, “and this is… I think a selection of seasoning packets?” he added another box to the tower, he laughed to himself again as he inspected the fourth box, it was bordering on a cackle now. “And baking soda.” He put this box aside as well. Markus was beginning to feel rather offended, his mate was laughing at him, at his attempts to do something helpful.

 

“So, none of those are any good?”

 

“Not as a midnight snack, sir.”

 

“I brought fruit too.” He offered grumpily. Sam gave a soft smile in return and he felt his defences crumbling. He slid a banana, apple and tangerine across the blanket, muttering, “Healthier than candies.” as he did so.

 

“Thank you, sir.”

 

“No worries.” Markus suddenly felt incredibly awkward, he looked away as Sam bit into the apple. “It’s my fault anyway.” He fidgeted with the blanket under them, refusing to look at Sam as he made his admission, alphas found it painfully hard to apologise but especially to those in lower ranks… He could tell Sam had slowed his movements without looking directly at him, probably bewildered by his words… “Which is why…” He had to fight a groan, for a moment he genuinely didn’t know if he would get the words out. “I feel I… owe you an apology?” It came out like a question but Sam didn’t answer it, he seemed to be frozen solid. “I mean, I do.” Markus managed to drag his eyes to meet Sam’s, who looked like he had just spotted an alien somewhere over Markus’ shoulder. “Sam?” He whispered.

 

“Yes, sir?”

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

“Yes, sir.” Sam mumbled, although he didn’t look as though he had understood the two hardest words Markus had ever had to say.

 

“Don’t call me sir.” Markus took the side of his face in one hand, “Just for tonight, please don’t call me that.”

 

“Okay, sir.” He spluttered.

 

Markus forced a smile,“Eat, you need your strength.” he pushed the hand holding his forgotten fruit back to his mouth and the smaller boy took a much more reserved bite than he had previously, chewing slowly. A heavy silence fell between them.

 

Once Sam had finished all of the fruit (at Markus’ insistence) he was plopped back under the covers again.

 

“It’s the middle of the night, you need more sleep.” Markus murmured, pulling the blankets up.

 

“You too, sir.” Sam reached out for him, his small hand grasping for Markus’, and the alpha’s heart squeezed. He pulled the blankets up and joined his mate underneath, taking him by the waist and pulling him close, resting one hand on Sam’s ass and another around his lower back. There was something about that space, under the covers together, and that moment, in the dead of night where no one could hear or see them, they would be undisturbed for hours, it brought over a warm feeling that spread through Markus’ entire body. Sam was his to be one with, at least for tonight.

 

He tilted his head and pressed his lips against Sam’s temple as the starting line for a trail of kisses, he kissed him gently and quietly all along his forehead, cheek, chin, pretending he was chasing all the faint freckles that speckled his mate’s face. He turned them over, rolling on top and pushing himself up so as not to squash the smaller boy, and finally kissed his lips, soft and plump. Sam laid still, watching him cautiously.

 

His hands slid over the sheet beneath them and along to the hem of Sam’s top, his fingers darted under the material without hesitation, finding the warm skin of his flat stomach and brushing along his hips with his fingertips.

 

He paused suddenly,“Can I touch you?” he asked.

 

“You already are.” Sam whispered, he didn’t sound perturbed but Markus knew omegas weren’t exactly allowed to express annoyance like most would.

 

“More?” He pressed, holding his hands still until Sam gave a small nod, barely susceptible in the darkness. He pulled the shirt up and over Sam’s head, ruffling his already messy hair. He lowered his head to Sam’s navel and kissed at the skin, working his way up the centre of his stomach and following with his hands along his sides, Sam shivered a little under his touch.

 

He licked at the tip of his right nipple and Sam jerked a little. The reaction fed his need to touch, to taste,Markus latched on to the bud and sucked softly at it, Sam keened beneath him, lifting himself just a little. His tongue seemed to guide him with its own path in mind, round and round the small pink nub, gliding across his pale chest to the other nipple, already hard and waiting. Sam whimpered, quickly covering his mouth with his hands but Markus had already heard and it hit something inside of him, a sweet spot, an itch deep in his core that could only be scratched by his mate’s adorable submissive voice.

 

He continued to switch back and forth, giving both nipples equal attention from his mouth and tongue, sucking harshly when Sam moaned and shook beneath him, rewarding the sensuous sounds and movements.

 

The small shivers and trembles that ran over Sam’s skin were addictive, every twitch Markus could illicit from his teeny body sent a wave of arousal through him, there was something about being the one to cause those reactions that set him aflame. The only one to make him feel this way, to make his body quiver under his touch. With Sam’s nipples and his heart rate raised, Markus slid his body down lower to concentrate on a very different part of his mate’s body, one he had much less experience with. The blanket was shuffled down with him, baring Sam’s skin to the air.

 

He slipped Sam’s jeans off, tugging them hard around the knees as they bunched up, it seemed these were not meant to be worn by someone of his size, Markus wondered where he got his clothes from, he had never seen Sam out on their large group shopping trips. When his skinny legs were finally free, Markus parted them gently. Sam had an expression of mild alarm but Markus continued, determined to convince him he meant no harm. He ran his fingers around the bulge in his tight boxers, it seemed his mate was already half-hard just from having his nipples played with. Sam gasped softly beneath his hands and Markus took a moment to look into his eyes, make sure he was still okay to continue. Sam stared back. He grasped Sam in one hand, squeezing gently, and began to stroke him through his underwear. As he rubbed at the sensitive organ, Sam’s legs spread further and further, blossoming like a flower in the spring.

 

“Mmmm…” Sam mumbled behind his hands, Markus couldn’t be sure if it was a moan or if he was actually trying to say something but he seemed to be enjoying the stimulation well enough, so he continued, stroking and squeezing until his dick was straining at the boxers furiously.

 

Markus froze. He had never touched his mate’s naked penis before, he had ground against him that time in the office and Goddess knows Sam had given him a fair few hand and blow jobs, but Markus had never reciprocated… He knew he was afraid of showing affection, afraid of what people would think, afraid of hurting his mate more if he pulled away later, afraid of being like this for the rest of his life. Alone despite living in a pack house full of his brethren. He steeled himself, this wasn’t about him, it was about Sam, and pulled the boxers down. He dragged the, all the way to Sam’s ankles and discarded them off the side of the bed.

 

Normally, Markus didn’t know what he would do if it was anyone else’s junk in his face, he had known he was attracted to males since he was a kid but he had never had to actually interact with another dude’s genitals. Now he was face-to-face with Sam’s cock it seemed utterly natural, he wanted nothing more in that moment than to pleasure his mate.

 

He ducked his head and took the tip into his mouth. Sam’s body jerked inwards and their eyes locked again, this time his expression wasn’t just mild alarm, it was utter shock. Markus stretched a hand forward to push his chest back down as he sucked more in, his tongue stroking hesitantly at the sides as he gained his bearings. Sam allowed himself to be pressed back into the mattress although his face still conveyed his surprise very clearly.

 

As Markus began to get the hang of swirling his tongue around the hot flesh he leant forward, pulling another inch into his mouth.

 

“Aaah! S-sir!” Sam moaned through his fingers.

 

Markus pulled his lips away to murmur, “Don’t call me sir, say my name.” before clasping his mouth around Sam’s cock again, dragging his tongue in circles over it. Sam cried out again but this time it was wordless, a pleasured moan. Markus sucked harder, pushing himself to take almost all of it and using his tongue like the muscle it was, working it over every inch of his mate, drawing pants and whimpers from the smaller boy.

 

“Ah! Aaah!” Sam’s legs flattened themselves either side of him and his hips lifted slightly, encouraging Markus to keep giving his all, sucking like his life depended on it. “Oh… Oh God!” Sam clamped his little palms over his mouth again, squeezing at his own cheeks hard enough to leave nail dents but Markus wouldn’t ease up, he continued to suck, lick and tongue fuck until his jaw ached dully.

 

When Sam threw his head back and his legs became rigid, Markus knew he was there. The alpha was torn between wanting to watch him orgasm and wanting to give all his attention to the task he was still performing. He strained his eyes trying to stare up at him but continued to pull on him with his tight lips and the sight was glorious. Sam’s ragged breaths built and built, his brows pulled together and his light stomach muscles flexed. His hands finally dropped from his face to grip the pillows as he came, shooting into Markus’ mouth in hot spurts.

 

“M-” Sam moaned. Yes, Markus thought, please, say my name. “Markus!” Sam gasped, his eyes flying open and his hips jerking to push his cock further into Markus’ mouth. That sweet voice, calling his name… He knew the sound would be haunting his wet dreams for a long time to come…

 

When the initial shock wore off his limbs unclenched, turning into limp noodles. He pushed himself up on trembling arms. Markus released him gently, pulling his lips closed over the tip which caused a shiver to run through his mate - something he greatly enjoyed watching.

 

“You okay?” He whispered, lifting his hand to brush a few stray hairs from Sam’s sweaty forehead.

 

“Y-yeah.” Sam mumbled. Markus swiped his boxers from the floor and handed them back.

 

“I think it’s definitely bedtime now.” He waited for Sam to pull on his underwear, then stripped off his own clothes down to his boxers and pulled the covers over them, wrapping Sam up in his arms and pressing their naked chests together.

 

Sam’s heartbeat lulled him into a peaceful sleep.

 

~

 

“So, you guys shared his bed?” Cassie stage whispered.

 

“Yeah,” Sam shrugged, keeping one eye on the kitchen door for eavesdroppers. “but in the morning when I woke up, he was gone…”

 

Cassie pulled a face and grumbled,“That’s kind-of a douche move.” as she swung on her stool.

 

“I guess,” He sighed, “but please don’t say anything, not even to Karliah… I’m not sure what’s going on with him but I’m hoping it’s a change for the better.” Markus’ moods were always swinging wildly but he hoped this was a good sign, even if he had to pass out to get there,

 

“I hope it is but I wouldn’t put money on it…” Cassie snorted and rolled her eyes.

 

“Thanks, Cass…” He pouted full force, he needed her to agree with him on this, he needed her support.

 

“Would you prefer me to lie to you?” She asked with her round eyes drawn wide.

 

“No, I guess not.”

 

“Exactly,” She jumped up and headed to the cupboards, “now, I have a feeling you’ve skimped on the details so I’m going to make us some tea and you’re going to tell me everything from the top again but this time I want nothing spared!” she began pulling out tea bags and sugar.

 

Sam was glad she had turned away so she couldn’t see him blush, there were some details that needed to be spared, whether his best friend liked it or not.

 

~

 

Alexa pressed Jasper harder into the wall, using her bulk to hold him firmly in place. She had to admit, she hadn’t been expecting her mate to be… quite such a little shit. At first, she had thought maybe he was acting out because maybe he was nervous about being around a dominant, especially one that was his mate, but then his refusal to obey her continued and she put it down to a cheeky personality… Now, she was beginning to lose her patience with him. Karliah had confirmed he had been a sarcastic little bitch as long as she had known him but had had no advice on how to deal with him.

 

“H-hey.” Jasper gasped, his cheeks tinted pink. “What’s wrong?”

 

“You’re driving me absolutely insane.” She growled down at him. Shock flitted across his face, his bottom lip shook a little and his eyebrows pulled together. For a moment she wondered how it had gotten to this point, being driven to cornering her own mate in an empty science classroom.

 

“Wh-why?”

 

“You just can’t seem to behave!” She sighed, resting her forehead against his. “Have you never spent time with a dominant before?” They weren’t in any classes so she hadn’t had a chance to witness how he behaved around other dominants, but Karliah had been pretty confident when she said he behaved just as brazenly with both subs and doms.

 

“Not… like, directly…” Jasper rolled his eyes. “Except, like, my dad… or Karliah… I haven’t really had any reason to otherwise - do you spend a lot of time around subs?”

 

“I mean… No, I guess that’s a good point.” She thought for a moment. “Are you all… like this?”

 

“Like what?” He laughed.

 

“Cheeky… Bratty… Only able to submit when their life is in danger…”

 

“I do submit sometimes!” She raised her brows, that was an outright lie.

 

“I’m your mate and the dominant in this relationship, you should submit to me all the time!” He pulled a face, as though he couldn’t believe what she was saying, as though he thought it was a joke. Maybe this was truly all new to him but Alexa couldn’t understand how he didn’t have the natural urge to obey like she had the natural urge to command, it was genetics.

 

“What if I don’t want to?” His confidence seemed to be rising again, she couldn’t let him think he was winning. “Maybe I don’t think you’re… dominating me… correctly…” He rambled.

 

“Karliah did say you were good at talking out of your ass.”

 

“Thank you, it’s one of my many talents.”

 

“Can one of your other talents be submitting without a fight?” She was growing irritated, no one had ever argued with her like this over their position, subs were called subs because they were supposed to submit.

 

“What’s in it for me?” He asked cheekily. Oh yeah, she thought, he is definitely getting too comfortable with this dynamic, he thinks this is a game.

 

“I won’t beat your ass?” She snapped, pressing into him harder to further make her point known. SHe wasn’t joking, he needed to get his butt in gear and behave.

 

“Hmm… you make a compelling argument.” He subconsciously covered his butt with his hands, clasping them over his cheeks casually. “But… would submitting under duress really give you the same satisfaction as if I submitted organically?”

 

“Will you submit organically?”

 

“God, no.” He let out a weak laugh and she squinted down at him.

 

“Then you’d better bend over and get comfortable because I’m gonna make those cheeks cherry-flavoured.” She stepped back and nodded her head in the direction of the nearest desk.

 

“Or…” He darted to the side. “And I’m just throwing out thoughts here…” He tried to put some distance between them. “We could leave my adorable arse alone?”

 

She grabbed him by his short tufty hair, “Or maybe you could learn to obey.” he grunted, his head tilted back to glare into her eyes.

 

“Or maybe-”

 

“Backtalk me again, I dare you.” She growled, slamming him back into the wall and using her other hand to rip his collar open, exposing creamy shoulder and neck. Jasper opened his mouth to object to the destruction of his clothing but quickly decided against it when he saw the fire in Alexa’s eyes. She lunged forward like a viper and sunk her teeth into the curve of his shoulder. Jasper yelped, his eyes watering. He continued to struggle for a moment but her powerful jaw held on tight until his grunts turned to whimpers.

 

Finally, he stilled,“P-please…” he whispered. 

 

Alexa dragged her teeth up his neck roughly, only pulling away when she reached his jugular to growl in his ear, “Last lessons of the day start in five minutes, sort yourself out and meet me in the textiles classroom after the bell rings.” She stepped back, her eyes hard. “Don’t be late.” Jasper nodded but decided to keep his mouth shut. Smart boy, she thought, hopefully he would be that smart this afternoon when she really tested him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much again for your comments on the last chapter! I really appreciate the feedback :)
> 
> This week I kept thinking about weird ships/combos for the characters and I think my favourite was KarliahxCassiexJasperxAlexa - although basically it's just the two couples having sex in the same room BUT COMPETITIVELY! And Cassie and Jasper being generally sassy and rude to each other's mate... Maybe I'll write a one shot and post it when the series is done!
> 
> Do you guys have any weird ships / combos you'd like to see in a one shot?


	9. CHAPTER EIGHT

Jasper hovered outside the textiles classroom, he had barely made it on time having got caught in the flurry of one of Aminali’s gossip sermons as he tried to leave after English, and he had really wanted to hear the end of the story but he had already been fearing for his behind all afternoon, he didn’t need to make his situation any worse.

 

The door opened with a soft ‘clunk’ but it still made him jump, when he turned his mate was staring down at him from the doorway.

 

“Hi.” He whispered.

 

“Come in.” She stepped back and he entered. He had only been in the room a few times before but it was pretty similar to most classrooms except with lots of art supplies, sewing machines and pieces of scrap material poking out of every available crevice. The blinds were all pulled down so the light in the room was muted as the overhead bulbs were all off. Alexa shut the door and pulled the blind down over its window too before twisting the lock into place.

 

“I d-”

 

“Take your clothes off.” She ordered.

 

“My… my clothes?” He laughed awkwardly, “Haven’t you heard that song - we don’t have to take our clothes off?” Alexa didn’t find his comment funny.

 

“All of them. Off.”

 

Jasper hesitated for only a few more seconds, watching her expression for any change, before he slipped his top off, then his shoes, socks and finally his tight jeans, all piled up onto the table beside him. She stared him down as he fidgeted in his boxers, shifting from foot to foot.

 

“Underwear off.” She added.

 

“’Kay.” He mumbled and pulled them down to add to the collection of clothing. He covered his front with his hands but still felt far too exposed for his liking, his skin was cool all over except for his cheeks which burned.

 

“I want you to learn to obey.” Alexa began quietly, “I want you to show me that you can submit to me as your dominant and even if you can’t stand to behave for anyone else you will do so for me because I. Am. Your. Mate.” she enunciated each word with a tight jaw.

 

“I-”

 

“You will not speak unless I ask you to,” She growled down at him, “do you understand?” he shivered, her wolf was radiating a dominant energy that drove his wolf back inside of him with its tail between its legs.

 

“Yes.” He whispered.

 

“Good,” She stood back and nodded to the nearest desk, cleared of cloth and thread, “you’re going to get on the table and kneel there, hands on thighs and facing forward.” he looked between her and the table a couple of times but neither gave him any other option. He stepped forward and climbed up onto the cold table, goosebumps sprouting up his thighs as he positioned himself onto his knees.

 

“You’re going to stay there until I give you permission to move, you will not move or speak until your time is up.” He huffed out a short breath but said nothing, for once he couldn’t think of anything to say… What do you say when you’re sitting butt naked on a table in a classroom at four in the afternoon? Alexa was comfortably resting against the table opposite, watching him with raised eyebrows.

 

His hands began to twitch on his pale legs, he didn’t like sitting still and being watched wasn’t helping, he couldn’t stop looking at her, checking she was still staring at him, then looking away awkwardly… then looking back again…

 

Eventually he gave in, “What is the point of this?” he groaned, letting his back slump.

 

Alexa strode silently to him and took his wrists in her large hands, pulling his arms up above his head and squeezing them once to let him know to keep them up. She walked away and grabbed a heavy book from the teacher’s desk, returned, and placed it in his hands. Jasper grunted at the weight, his arms weren’t exactly the thickest part of his body and holding the tome over his head was especially difficult.

 

Alexa stepped away to rest herself against the table opposite again, “Time starts again, same rules apply.” she said.

 

He managed to last longer than the last time, but when his arms began to ache he grew irritated and dropped the book to the table with a thud and a sigh.

 

Alexa approached again and he pouted tiredly, “My arms hurt.” he grumbled. She brought a hand up to cup his cheek but her expression remained neutral, she watched him for a moment and he did his best to look pitiful but she wasn’t moved apparently as she pulled a pair of clothes pegs from her pocket. They were from the laundry room connected to the textiles classroom. Jasper leaned back with a look of concern but she placed one hand against the middle of his back to keep him still and used the other to attach the first peg to his left nipple.

 

“Ah!” Jasper gasped, his eyelids fluttering in shock at the sharp pain.

 

Alexa leant her head down, pressing her lips against his ear to whisper, “Breathe through it, I know you can do this, you can reach that place I need you in.” Jasper bit his lip but obeyed, taking a slow breath and releasing it through pursed lips. “Good boy.” She kissed his ear lobe and he squirmed against her, the affection felt good but her words hit something in his lower stomach, warming him. His immediate thought was to feel embarrassed, being called a good boy was condescending and he shouldn’t like it… He shouldn’t… But yet he wanted her to say it again, he wanted her to cuddle and kiss him and call him all kinds of pet names and baby him and… and he didn’t know, but she did, she knew how to make him feel this strange feeling… more of it…

 

She slipped the second peg onto his other nipple smoothly and although he sucked in another breath sharply, he managed not to complain. She returned book to him and he lifted it obediently, then she sat back on the edge of her table.

 

A fog was beginning to settle over his mind, he had heard about this… a feeling of calm when behaving submissively… it wasn’t quite holding him fully yet though and the pain in his nipples was still hovering at the forefront of his mind. He didn’t want to disobey, he didn’t want to disappoint her but the pain was bothering him… how much longer?

 

He turned to look at her round his shaking arms, she was still watching him with her cool expression.

 

“They hurt.” He whined. She watched him for a moment more and he could feel his lip trembling as he waited. Finally, she stood and approached him, taking the book from his hands, then the pegs from his nipples.

 

“You’re doing well, honey.” She cooed into the crown of his head. “But this next time you are going to last till the end, you can do it, I promise.” He nuzzled into her chest, his hand rising to clutch at her shirt. Another item appeared from her pocket and he eyed it warily but said nothing, pressing his nose harder into her torso. It seemed to be an elastic hair-band with two long pieces of string attached… She stepped away and he whined again, although this time at the loss of contact. She moved behind him and dragged her fingers through his hair, causing a shiver to run down his neck at the satisfying sensation, and pulled his hair back into a short low ponytail, tying it off with the hair-band. He had never had his hair tied up before, it had never gotten as long as it was now… he supposed his mother had been right about him looking a little shaggy lately…

 

His thoughts were disrupted when his head jerked back via the mini ponytail by a hand tying a thick piece of string around one of his ankles, the other followed in quick succession, forcing his body into an open and revealing pose, knees spread and head back. He rested as much of his weight onto his palms pressed against the table-top as he could and tilted his chin up to relieve some of the pressure.

 

“You can do it, honey, trust me.” Those last two words were said which such weight he knew he could believe them. She was his mate, she could feel his capabilities, she wouldn’t push him too far, he could submit. She replaced the pegs, handed him the book and sat back. “Breathe, Jasper.”

 

He did, he pulled in a full breath and allowed it to centre him, both in his mind and in his balance.

 

“I’m not trying to hurt you.” Alexa murmured, “I’m not trying to embarrass you.” she ran her hand from his raised chin to his knee lightly, drawing more goosebumps to lift along his skin. “It’s about being obedient, submissive and vulnerable,” She stepped back, slowly retreating to her spot on the other table where he could no longer see her. “but only for me, only for your mate.” She continued, her voice penetrating his thoughts and keeping his mind occupied. “You don’t have to fight everyone away with snark and sarcasm,” He drew every ounce of focus he had, pinning it to her words and her voice, her wolf and her confidence, she knew he could do it so he could. “you can be soft and gentle and allow yourself to be looked after. I’m not asking you to trust anyone else if you don’t want to, but I need you to trust me.”

 

His arms, knees and nipples ached… but for the first time in his life he wanted to succeed at being submissive, he wanted to prove he could do it, but only for her.

 

“And I want to know I can trust you to submit to me. Being submissive is incredibly hard,” Breathe in. “it takes an enormous amount of willpower and control and I know you have it in you,” Breathe out. “I know you have that power.” Focus on your breathing, keep it in time with her voice, he thought. Her voice would anchor him and his breaths would rock him with the waves. “I would never think less of you for it and I would not let anyone else treat you less for it. Having a submissive submit to you is an honour and I don’t take it lightly.”

 

Jasper let out a long a slow breath, closing his eyes as he did so. He felt peaceful, calm, almost drowsy.

 

He didn’t know how much time had passed when Alexa stood but he let his eyes peel open as she approached him. When her face moved into his field of vision he was relieved to see she had a soft smile painted onto it. The weight in his palms lifted as she removed the book, then the sharp pain in his nipples released as she removed the pegs, leaving behind a dull ache in the puffy buds.

 

“You’ve managed to surpass all your previous attempts and I’m so proud of you.” She cooed, pulling him into her arms.

 

“Thank you.” He whispered, nuzzling into her. She pulled herself up onto the table with him and lifted him into her lap.

 

“Your hair was adorable tied up.” She added, stroking her hands over his sides gently.

 

“Mmm.” He moaned against her shirt, sinking in deeper.

 

“Can I play with it some more?”

 

“Mmm.” Jasper allowed his entire body to relax as her fingers ran over his scalp, brushing the strands back and forth.

 

“Can I put it back up?” She whispered.

 

“Mmm.” He was barely listening any more, soaking up her affection and the feel of her hands on him. Maybe he could get used to this…

 

~

 

Markus pressed into Sam’s back, cornering him against the counter he was wiping. His aura was one of restrained frustration and Sam fought a sigh, he just couldn’t get a week off from his mate’s bullshit, could he? He said nothing, waiting for Markus to make his complaint, he would probably growl about his sheets taking too long to dry or his desk having a little dust left behind from Sam’s polishing…

 

“What’s with that book?” Markus’ tone was even, his volume lowered, it seemed he really was trying to hold himself back, but Sam could read his wolf’s energy very well with so little space between them, something had pissed him off. He stopped wiping but didn’t turn around.

 

“Which book, sir?” He asked.

 

“The one with the cheesy note in from Charles.” Ah, there it was. He decided to turn the interrogation around before it could reach the point they seemed to be dancing around endlessly lately of ‘Charles is good, no he’s not, yes he is’ and so on and so forth.

 

“You opened it?”Maybe he was pushing his luck by asking something so brazenly, and without using a title for Markus… But he was feeling lucky that day.

 

“I just wanted to see what was so special about it that you feel the need to carry it just about everywhere you go.” Markus snapped. Sam rolled his eyes at the cupboard above his head and turned to face his mate, pressing their chests together tightly.

 

“It was a gift, sir.” He was trying to hold his exasperation back, truly he was, but it was very hard when Markus made him spell things out like they were on Sesame Street.

 

“For what? Is it your birthday?”

 

“No, sir.” It stung that his own mate didn’t know when his birthday was, he knew Markus’, even if he hadn’t ever gotten him a present, he always left a card for him. Sam only got cards and presents from Cassie, her family, and a couple of pack members who had helped raise him. He was grateful for what he had, but it was easy to feel jealous. “My birthday isn’t until the seventeenth, sir.” It was stupid to hope that by telling him he might remember when the day came, but it slipped out before Sam could stop it. Stupid, desperate omega, he thought.

 

“Seventeenth of what?”

 

“May, sir, this month.” He mumbled, his luck felt like it had been sucked out with a vacuum cleaner.

 

“Right, so he just got you this gift for nothing?” Markus huffed, “What is he, your sugar daddy now?” he looked almost amused but Sam knew it was an act, he was angry… and deep down a little hurt - his wolf was growling, trying to keep him from seeing the emotions it was trying to protect and using anger as a shield to keep people away.

 

“He thought I would like it since we like a lot of the same books, sir.”

 

“How thoughtful of him.” The alpha sneered.

 

“Yes, he’s very kind to me.” Sam whispered, almost more to himself than Markus who faltered, looking lost and anxious, Sam didn’t think he had ever seen Markus so devoid of confidence.

 

“I-” He began but his mouth got stuck around whatever the next word was going to be. He stepped back a little, giving Sam some breathing room.

 

“Yes?” Markus refused to meet his eyes but Sam continued to stare up at his, he would never get tired of them, like a flower so unique and bright you can’t look away. His ochre eyes were one of Sam’s favourite features his mate had, when they weren’t glaring at him. Markus didn’t seem to notice Sam’s ogling as he struggled to spit out the words he was choking on.

 

Finally, he blurted, “I’m sorry.” and Sam’s eyes almost popped out of his head, was he hallucinating? Had someone spiked the brownies he baked earlier? Markus… apologising… twice in one week? There was no way this was real. Markus apologises for the first time ever on Saturday and by Wednesday he’s dropped the ‘s-bomb’ again?

 

“Sir, with all due respect, are you feeling well?”

 

“Very funny.” He huffed. “I just… yeah, I’m…”

 

“Sorry.” Sam whispered.

 

“Yeah, that.”

 

“Thank you, sir.” He stared up at Markus with wide eyes. Reward the good behaviour, he thought, maybe it was working… just call him Pavlov because he was conditioning this dog… Well, maybe he shouldn’t get too ahead of himself yet. He pushed down on the counter behind him with his palms and lifted himself onto his toes, leaning forward with fluttering eyes. Markus hesitated, and it hurt, Sam knew he was worried about someone seeing them, that he couldn’t forget his status in the pack for just one romantic moment. Sam looked away, feeling thoroughly mortified, and began to pull back but Markus grabbed him, one hand at the back of his head and one round his waist and pulled him in for a far too brief kiss, their lips barely bumping together before Markus let him go, nodded awkwardly and slipped out of the kitchen as quickly as he had arrived.

 

Sam bit his lip, progress was progress, he supposed.

 

~

 

“Oh, Karliah, I love it.” Her mother cooed.

 

“It’s itchy and tight.” Karliah grumbled as she continued to try to pull at the fabric bunching in her arm pits.

 

“Beauty is pain.” Her mother said with a knowing smile. Karliah pulled a face into the changing room mirror in front of her and her mother raised her eyebrows warningly.

 

“I don’t want to be in pain at my bonding ceremony.” She huffed.

 

Her mother let out a sigh which developed into a groan, “I doubt Cassie’s mother had this problem picking her dress.” she grumbled.

 

“Cassie’s mother would have this problem trying to get her into anything that isn’t a dress,”Karliah said, attempting to lighten the conversation and redirect the conversation. “they’re the only things she wears, I’m starting to wonder if she knows how to put jeans on by herself.”

 

“But she always looks lovely, so what’s the problem?”

 

Karliah hesitated, “Don’t I look lovely?” she asked quietly. There was a tense pause as Karliah watched her mother in the reflection of the changing room mirror, her expression changing from surprise, to guilt to annoyance.

 

“Of course you do, but we can always look lovelier, darling.” She hissed through gritted teeth. Karliah pinched her lips together and turned, slowly, to face her.

 

“Why are you so obsessed with me being more feminine?” She whispered, fearing the eavesdropping ears of her fellow women on the other side of the curtain. “Am I not woman enough for you, mother?” She couldn’t tell if she was more upset or angry that she was on the brink of adulthood, mere years from taking over as leader of one of the largest packs in the county and barely over a month away from her bonding ceremony and yet she was still having to prove herself, to her own mother, no less.

 

“Don’t you dare try and imply that I don’t support you and who you are.”

 

“Then why do my clothes matter to you so much?” Karliah snapped. “Why must I wear a dress if I feel more comfortable in a suit, they do beautiful women’s wedding suits!” She had found a few that she really liked online but hadn’t had the courage to present them to her mother for fear of her reaction. If Cassie didn’t care how she dressed, why did it matter? There were plenty of women with bad style or ‘masculine’ style, not that Karliah fully understood what made pieces of fabric sewn together in certain ways gendered.

 

“I don’t understand why you don’t like skirts when they would be the perfect cover-up!”

 

Karliah froze, looking down at her mother with what she was sure was probably the most horrified expression she had ever seen on her daughter’s face.

 

“Cover-up?” She asked, her voice barely above a hard breath.

 

“Forget it.” Her mother sighed, waving her off with one hand.

 

But Karliah refused to let the subject drop, “You’re worried about the other alphas finding out about me, aren’t you?” she leant down closer to avoid being heard.

 

“When you take over it needs to be without scandal,” Her mother hissed, “I want to protect you, you don’t need any more work on your plate.” she kept her voice low too but with enough venom to get her point across.

 

“Scandal.” Karliah repeated. “Okay, picture this:” She lifted her arms up as high as she could in the straight-jacket-like dress and formed a rectangle with her fingers. “I’m thinking a lace bodice, puffy sleeves, sharp stilettos and a white leather mini-skirt just short enough for the tip of my cock to hang out.” She gave her mother a tight smile which the older woman scowled at, her cheeks turning a dark shade of pink.

 

“I am only trying to help.” She huffed, although Karliah could see the hurt she was trying to hide glistening in her eyes. “I love you, and I will always support you. People can be cruel and nasty and I don’t want that for you.”

 

“I know, mother, and I love you too, but right now what I need is a ‘yes woman’.” She crouched down beside her mother carefully. “Because if I wear something you pick I’ll be unhappy and uncomfortable, and if I wear something I pick but you’ve spent the next six weeks tearing it apart then I’m going to feel unhappy and self-conscious.”

 

Her mother sniffed, “I understand, I’m sorry for trying to make this about me.” she reached out to pinch her eldest daughter’s cheeks between her fingers. “I don’t want you to be unhappy.”

 

“It is about you, your baby is growing up,” Karliah smiled up at her gently and took her hands. “but this is the part where you watch and enjoy. The happiest gardeners take time to actually enjoy the flowers they’ve grown once in a while.”

 

Her mother grinned and said, “And you are a beautiful flower, a gladiolus, I like to think.” she winked cheekily.

 

“Why a glad-a-la-uh-” Karliah tripped over her own tongue trying to pronounce the word but her mother flicked her forehead to silence her.

 

“Gladiolus.” She repeated. “They’re bright, beautiful, tall,” She tapped gently at Karliah’s cheeks with each word, “and they symbolise a strong and honourable personality.” and finished with another squeeze of her cheeks.

 

“What would Cassie be?” Karliah whispered curiously.

 

“A tulip, a black one.” Her mother beamed down at her with a wild grin. Karliah waved her along for an explanation.“Tulips can be given to someone to imply they have beautiful eyes, which she does, but black tulips symbolise a mixture of beauty and grace and courage, someone who is both effortlessly elegant and… what it is you kids say? A bad bitch!” Karliah almost knocked herself over laughing, hearing her mother swear was a shock in and of itself but hearing her quote ‘the youth’ was equal parts horrifying and hilarious. Her mother joined in and gave her a gentle shove.

 

“Go on then, take the damned thing off.”

 

Karliah sighed with relief and stood, turning to face her reflection again.

 

“Do you want some help with the zip?” Her mother raised her brows at her in the mirror but Karliah rolled her eyes confidently.

 

“I’ll be fine.” She laughed.

 

A loud ripping sound cut through the silence like a knife through cream cheese.

 

~

 

Markus knew he wasn’t supposed to be in his father’s private filing cabinet but it wasn’t as though he was snooping for information that he didn’t feel he had every right to know. He wasn’t looking for scandalous pack secrets or dirty deeds, he just wanted to skim through the alliance files.

 

There was something off about Charles, he knew it, but if he couldn’t prove it Sam would think he was just being cruel and vindictive. The file had to have something, any information he could find on the man would help even if it wasn’t a direct lead. Anything, a date of birth, an address, a photo of him… He found the pack of profiles near the start and it began with a list of contents that stated each of the alliance representatives names.

 

Markus froze as about a third of the way down, ‘Charles Godfry’ glared at him from the page, he knew it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for your comments on last week’s chapter! I always try to reply as quickly as I can :)
> 
> And yes, you read that correctly, Sam’s birthday is tomorrow! My baby is growing up…
> 
> Speaking of birthdays, The Mates Trilogy turns 4 this month! I started Make Me Beg in May 2015 during breaks at my job at the time and had planned for it to be a short silly romance story that might not even have a real ending as I was just winging it as I went but now it’s something I am pretty proud of (even if I still hate the first few chapters) and am excited to continue. Let’s hope it doesn’t take another 4 years to finish though!


	10. CHAPTER NINE

“Dad, you need to see this.” Markus waved the piece of paper under his father’s nose and the older man grunted disparagingly as he adjusted himself in bed, pulling himself up and putting aside his newspaper. He snatched the fluttering item from Markus’ hand and held it away from his face to read, his face contorted very quickly into an expression of fury as he realised what he was looking at.

 

“I’ve seen this file, Markus, I bloody wrote most of it!” He snapped, “And I’m pretty sure this was in the confidential filing cabinet I keep for my eyes only.” he sat up straighter and glared Markus down.

 

“I know, but there’s something in here that we didn’t know was important before, sir!” He did his best to plead with his eyes. His father sighed and waved his hand to signal him to both continue and hurry up. “That vampire with the light hair, Charles, his last name is Godfry!” Markus should have been embarrassed at how excited he was but he was too focused on taking down that skeevy vampire to care. His father took a frustratingly long time to process this information.

 

Finally, he said, “Like the name in the notebook.” with raised brows.

 

“Yes!”

 

“How do we know without a doubt it is referring to him?” His father asked. “It could be another vampire’s first name, you would need to be able to prove it is him without a shred of uncertainty before I could look into him,” He sighed before continuing, “we don’t want to cause any ripples in this alliance if we don’t absolutely have to.” he handed the paper back but Markus wasn’t ready to give up just yet.

 

“In the notebook it said it was a vampire getting close to the omega, that’s Charles!” He insisted, “He has been buzzing round the omega like a fly on shit since he arrived, sir.” he tacked on the sir to try and negate the curse word, and apparently it worked as his father’s interest finally seemed piqued.

 

“How do you know that?” That piqued interest had very suddenly become suspicion and Markus felt his face grow hot.

 

“It’s hard to miss it,” Markus scoffed, he hoped his father couldn’t tell it was fake. “he’s even been buying him gifts, sir.”He added with the hopes of brushing the heat off. His father considered his words for some time, his hands pressed together in front of his mouth.

 

Eventually he sat back with a sigh, “Very well, I’ll have someone look into this, try and get some more information on this man.” Markus couldn’t help the shit-eating grin that split across his face, finally, he was being taken seriously. His father gave him a stern look, “For now, you say nothing and for fuck’s sake, do nothing.” he raised his brows for confirmation and Markus nodded enthusiastically.

 

“Of course, sir!”

 

~

 

A low growl startled Cassie as she dozed in the window-seat of Karliah’s office, she lifted her head sleepily and blinked to clear her eyes.

 

“Karliah?” She mumbled, pushing back her fluffy hair. A sigh came from the leather chair in front of her and Karliah’s ponytail swung as she spun round to face her.

 

“Yes, baby?”

 

“Is something wrong?” Cassie asked quietly, “Are you mad at me?” she tried to put together a list in her mind of all the things she could have done to make her mate growl like that but couldn’t come up with anything serious… she had ‘borrowed’ another pair of Karliah’s fluffy socks that morning when she couldn’t find any of her own but Karliah had never complained in the past - she always said liked it when Cassie wore her clothes and they looked ‘all oversized and adorable’… last night she had used Karliah’s back to warm her cold feet but Karliah had just tickled her until she moved them… at lunchtime she had stolen a bite from Karliah’s pear but Karliah had snuck a couple of grapes out of Cassie’s lunch box first…

 

“No, sweetness.” Karliah scooted herself forward and put her hands out, Cassie climbed into her lap and snuggled into her chest. “I could never be mad at you.” She kissed the top of her head gently, “you can be incredibly annoying sometimes but I would always tell you if you were getting on my nerves.” she chuckled.

 

“So why do you seem frustrated?” Cassie asked, lifting her head to gaze up at her mate worriedly.

 

Karliah paused, pulling a disgruntled face before answering. “I was catching up on my emails and I came across one from Alpha Murphy.”

 

“Markus’ father?”

 

“Mmm…” She brushed her fingers through Cassie’s curls, “He says Brandon’s mother turned up at his door just over a week ago, she’s angry they haven’t found his killer yet.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“And now he had received a letter from their alpha, also demanding results. He advised me not to speak to anyone from the Timber Fang pack, supposedly I’m his mother’s main suspect.”

 

“But you were here with me when it happened!” Cassie said indignantly and sat up higher.

 

“I know, sweetness, I’m not worried about their accusations.”

 

“So why are you worried?”

 

“I just… I feel frustrated at how long it’s taking to find the culprit, I can’t imagine what this strange interim of silence must be doing to you, I just want closure for everyone.” She wrapped her arms around Cassie’s hips to keep her balanced on her lap,“I can’t say I felt any sympathy for him or his family when I heard the news but I would like this situation resolved,” she kissed Cassie’s forehead gently. “we don’t need any unnecessary drama, especially when the alpha and alpha female of Timber Fang are on the guest list for our bonding ceremony.”

 

Cassie took Karliah’s hand and pressed it between both of her own, “You can feel my wolf’s emotions, right?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Am I worried about it?”

 

Karliah took a long moment to think before answering, “No, not that I can tell.” she said.

 

“Exactly, because as far as I’m concerned, the biggest threat is gone. His family can hound and holler at us all they want but they can’t make a real accusation without proof and they won’t find any on you,” She smiled confidently, “and they can’t cause a scene at our bonding ceremony or risk being looked down on by every other pack that attends.” she waggled her brows and Karliah’s mouth split into a grin too for just a moment before she turned back into serious-alpha-Karliah.

 

“But you’re assuming the killer did this because they knew he was crazy and dangerous,” Karliah countered, “this could have been a random murder, there could be a killer on the loose right now in Scarlett Moon, just waiting for their next victim.” she said solemnly.

 

“You can’t get into the underground prison by chance, it was planned.” Cassie said without hesitation, “This killer knew exactly what they were doing. Plus, it’s been over a month since his death and no one else has been harmed since.” she lifted herself up to balance on her knees and rested her hands on Karliah’s shoulders.

 

“You think you have a guardian angel watching over you? Ready to smite your enemies at a moment’s notice?” Karliah pressed their foreheads together, raising her brows in disbelief.

 

“Are you jealous?” Cassie laughed.

 

“Nope.” She smushed her lips against Cassie’s plump cheek, smothering her in wet kisses. “I don’t need to be an angel to protect you.”

 

“But you would look so good in white!”

 

“Yes, yes, weren’t you busy napping?” Karliah pulled back, looking embarrassed, Cassie had discovered her mate could only take compliments maybe fifty-percent of the time, but she enjoyed the cute, flustered reaction she got when one of her compliments hit her too hard or on a subject she wasn’t used to being flattered in. Her clothing and her femininity were the two main areas that Cassie had found compliments caught her off guard in. “Maybe you should get back to that.”

 

“Maybe I’ll finish my nap here.” Cassie replied, snuggling in closer. Karliah sighed and swivelled the chair round to work over Cassie’s head, tapping her keys softly.

 

~

 

Markus crept towards the kitchen, keeping his steps as light as possible and his breaths low. Charles was always by Sam’s side, he knew it, even if the the old codger avoided him like the plague and pretended otherwise. He was going to catch him.

 

As he approached the closed door of the kitchen he picked up a pair of voices, and he knew exactly who they belonged to.

 

“Will you be wearing your winter ball suit for the wed- sorry, bonding ceremony?” Charles-cradle-snatcher-Godfry asked.

 

“Oh, I hadn’t really thought about it.” Sam’s voice was soft as usual as he replied.

 

“I have to admit I’m only asking because I have been in a slight panic since I got my invitation, I haven’t the foggiest what one wears to this kind of event.” Markus had to hold back a scoff, Charles was so full of himself…

 

“Oh, you can wear a suit,” Sam reassured. “you can just treat it like a human wedding.”

 

“So this ceremony in the temple, it’s the same as the vows at a wedding?” Charles asked. Markus rolled his eyes, he comes to their pack as a representative, lives in their home for months and for what? If he can’t answer such basic questions about werewolf culture, clearly he was spending more time studying their omega’s ass than their ways and traditions.

 

“Well… we say vows, but they’re not the same ones you would say in a church and we also make our own, we also do a hand binding bit - I think some humans do that too?” Markus couldn’t understand why Sam was being so patient, answering Charles’ stupid questions with serious replies. “But the biggest difference is just our goddess, I guess.”

 

“Yes, I wasn’t even aware werewolves had their own religion until Karliah and Cassie announced their bonding ceremony!” Charles exclaimed. “How does that work?”

 

“Well, it’s not… I guess the simplest version is… the Goddess is essentially mother nature.” Sam explained slowly. “That’s really the only rule that all wolves follow, from there the packs can diversify a little - we call it being more or less traditional. Our pack is more traditional than most, so we still have bonding ceremonies and the Goddess is directly mentioned and included in all of our celebrations or life events like births, funerals and alpha coronations.” Markus felt his head lolling as he let himself be rocked by Sam’s gentle voice, he got to hear it so rarely… why was that? He felt almost sleepy as he thought about it… why didn’t Sam talk more? It was so soothing… “But if a pack is labelled as simply ‘traditional’ you know they take the Goddess very seriously, they pray regularly and attend temple services, they decorate their pack house with statues and paintings of her and her symbol.”

 

“So less or ‘non-traditional’ packs have little to no acknowledgement of the Goddess?” Charles’ voice cut through Markus’ mind painfully with another of his idiotic questions.

 

“Everyone believes, even non-traditional packs, they just don’t involve her in their daily lives.” Sam answered.

 

“Ah, I think I understand.”

 

“To them she is her own force,” Sam continued, “she will do as she likes and she doesn’t need the prayers of wolves to give her power, they believe it’s enough to simply do their best to look after her Earth.” hearing him talk about the goddess made Markus want to go to temple for the first time in months… not for any particular reason… he just wanted to bask in the atmosphere… with Sam’s voice to keep him company.

 

“And what do you believe?” Charles asked. Before Sam could answer, Markus decided he had heard enough, he stomped into the room.

 

“Why on Earth would you be discussing our deity with our omega?” He asked, looking between the shocked pair with thinly veiled glee, he knew it.

 

“Simply trying to educate myself before Cassie and Karliah’s big day,” The vampire answered with a half-smile. “I wouldn’t want to appear ignorant during such an important ceremony.”

 

“I wasn’t aware you were invited.” Was the only thing Markus could think to say.

 

“Well I was, and am honoured to have been.” Charles was still giving him that weird blank smile and Markus bristled, this man was a spy, a traitor, he didn’t deserve to stay in their home another minute let alone attend a bonding ceremony, he was probably only going to show up to spy on even more packs.

 

He gritted his teeth before replying, “Well, I don’t think it would be appropriate for you to be there.” he said.

 

“And why would that be?” Alarm bells rang in his head, they sounded suspiciously like his father’s voice saying ‘for fuck’s sake, do nothing’ on repeat. He couldn’t say he knew he was in with the council…

 

“I don’t want you spending time around our omega any more.” It wasn’t even a lie, Markus thought, because they both knew he had a problem with Charles hanging around like a starving animal drooling over Sam.

 

Charles’ face tightened, “May I ask why?” he asked cordially although his expression said otherwise.

 

“No, but I will say that this includes the bonding ceremony,” Markus knew he didn’t have leverage over the vampire, but that wasn’t going to stop him from creating some, let’s see how much he really ‘cares’ about Sam, he thought. “if you plan to attend then Sam is not permitted to.”

 

“Now wait a minute-” Charles began, just as Sam started to splutter in the corner.

 

“My decision is final.” Markus stated firmly before stalking out, the image of Sam’s crumpled face rattling his mind and rendering his thoughts incoherent.

 

 

~

 

“What do you mean you can’t come?” Cassie whispered, her eyes stinging with hurt. Karliah’s fists clenched unintentionally, she hoped Sam didn’t notice, it was hard for omega’s to remain composed when an alpha was displaying aggression near them, their fight or flight was much more in tune with the actions of their much larger counterparts.

 

“Markus won’t give me permission if Charles is going.” Sam muttered, looking ashamed. “Charles offered to stay home but I can’t do that to him, it would be rude - plus he’s the only member of the vampire alliance attending so I know they were counting on him to immerse himself in our culture with the ceremony…” Cassie turned on her heel to look up at Karliah, her eyes watering and her bottom lip trembling.

 

“I’m going to kill him.” She managed to snarl through her tears.

 

“I think it would be safer if I do it, less chance of you getting hurt.” Karliah replied solemnly. “Let me go see what I can do.” 

 

She really didn’t have time for Markus’ nonsense today. She couldn’t just drop off her mate without the fellow alpha causing a drama, Goddess, she couldn’t wait until Cassie stopped visiting this mess of a pack…

 

Karliah didn’t need to explain she wasn’t in the mood for chat as she brushed past many pack members on her way to the office, her wolf was radiating her fury in dominating waves that kept every person at bay easily.

 

Karliah rapped on the office door sharply and was greeted by Markus pulling the door open hurriedly, it seemed he was expecting someone else.

 

“Oh, hi.”

 

“Hi. I need a word.” She let herself in, pushing past him.

 

“Actually, I’m a bit bus-”

 

“Markus,” She snapped, “why are you trying to get yourself killed so young?” her clenched fists crossed over her chest.

 

“I… What?” He shut the door and followed her in.

 

“It just seems that time and time again you go out of your way to upset my mate, or upset your own mate, which in turn upsets my mate.”

 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He huffed. She moved closer to him, allowing her wolf to radiate it’s aggressive energy into the room at full volume.

 

“Why can’t Sam come to our bonding ceremony?” She growled.

 

“Omega can’t leave the pack h-”

 

“Without alpha permission,” She interrupted, her tone scathing. “what are you, a lemon?” He rolled his eyes like a sulking child.

 

“I haven’t explicitly said he can’t go.” He mumbled.

 

“Good, I’ll let him know he has permission now.” She smiled coldly. “I’m glad this is sorted, I like Sam and would hate to have to kick his mate’s ass.” His eyes flashed with surprise and anger and she instantly regretted revealing that she knew that Sam was his mate. But now she was too deep and for some reason, alphas found it ridiculously hard to back down once they had begun something - especially if that something was a conflict.

 

“Are you threatening me?”

 

She stepped forward again, bringing her face close to his and baring her canines, “Warning you.” she snarled, narrowing her eyes at him.

 

“What makes you think you could take me?” He appeared confident enough on the outside but she felt his wolf hesitate to meet hers in their battle of dominance. He genuinely wanted to know the answer, luckily it was simple.

 

“Alphas with marked mates are always stronger.” She shrugged, backing away and pulling the door open, “We’re not cowards, afraid of what insignificant people think of who we love.” she left swiftly, hoping her words had penetrated even a single layer of the stone around his heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the birthday wishes for Sam last week, I passed them on to him ;) Just so that everyone knows, in this chapter it is still the beginning of May so his birthday won't happen in the story for a while yet!
> 
> My golden question this week: Team Markus or Team Charles?


	11. CHAPTER TEN

“Who else knows?” Markus snarled, slamming the dining room door shut. Sam froze, his cloth pausing mid-circle on the long mahogany table.

 

As his mate stomped towards him, Sam suddenly found his tongue, “W-wait, who knows what, sir?” he stammered.

 

“Alpha Karliah knows so of course your little friend with the wildling hair knows.” Markus blocked him in against the table with his hands either side of his waist as he turned to face him. Sam kept his eyes down, holding them in the centre of Markus’ chest.

 

“About what?” He mumbled.

 

“About what, SIR.” Markus corrected,, his jaw tightening to make it even more defined and sharp, damn him and his handsome rugged looks, Sam thought, he should be angry at him for getting in his face… but instead he couldn’t stop focusing on how good-looking he was, and how much more good-looking he became when he clenched his pearly-white teeth, fangs bared, brows furrowed… Get it together, Sam, he thought. “And you know, we both know, we don’t talk about it but we know and I know that you know and now they know.” Sam blinked, his brain struggling to dissect the torrent of words flying at him. With an awful, sinking feeling, he realised what it was that Markus knew, what his friends knew.

 

“Oh.” He said. “Yeah.”

 

“Who. Else. Knows?” Markus growled, grabbing Sam’s chin and pulling him closer.

 

“No one, sir.”

 

“Not even your necrophiliac friend?” He growled.

 

“My what, sir?” Sam blurted in horror.

 

“Charles. The dead one.” Markus managed through gritted teeth.

 

“Don’t call him that!” 

 

“Or what?” He squeezed Sam’s cheeks between his fingers to the point of pain. “You gonna sic your mommy on me?” Sam jerked back, what did he know about his mother? Markus kept his grip on his face.

 

“Wh-why would you say that?” Sam’s eyes filled with tears so fast he barely had time to suck in a shuddering breath before they ran over his water line and down his cheeks and onto Markus’ fingers.

 

“Why are you crying?” Markus asked incredulously. Sam stared into his eyes, his own still pumping out water like a faucet, and felt his rage build inside of him. He couldn’t hold it back, no matter how much he wanted to, there was no need for Markus to bring either of his parents into a silly he-said-she-said. Sam’s jaw tightened and he glared through his tears.

 

“There are lines you don’t cross, Markus!” His voice shook but it was still the most aggressive he had probably ever sounded in his life, it surprised even him. Markus’ mouth popped open and Sam used his shock to shove away the alpha’s hand, releasing his chin. He marched away, trying to keep his sniffles quiet.

 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Markus called after him, but Sam wasn’t going to give him any more of his time, not today.

 

His anger was tinged with embarrassment at being so stupid as to think his cruel mate could ever change.

 

~

 

Cassie was waiting for Sam in his room when he stumbled in to sniffle under his duvet and generally feel sorry for himself. She jumped up when he entered, her face full of worry.

 

“Sammy!” She exclaimed, taking his wet cheeks in her small hands gently and staring into his eyes. Sam sniffed once, then the floodgates opened and he began to sob, his head tilting down and his eyes squeezing shut. Cassie pulled him in and wrapped her arms around him like an octopus, squeezing him in tight and holding him as he released his hurt into her shoulder.

 

Once he was able to breath without hiccuping, he pulled back and wiped at his face with his sleeve. Cassie looked him over frantically and ran her hands from his wrists to his shoulders to his face.

 

“Did Markus hurt you?” She asked.

 

“N-no.”

 

“Did Markus upset you?”

 

Sam hesitated, blinked a few times and mumbled, “Yes.”

 

“What happened?” She brushed her fingers through the hairs resting on his forehead, pushing them back softly. “Sammy, tell me what he said.”

 

“H-he talked a-about my m-mum.” A sob broke on the word ‘mum’ and a fresh wave of tears slid out.

 

“What the fuck?” She snarled, her face quickly contorting into an expression of pure rage. “Why would he do that?”

 

“I don’t- I don’t know.” He wasn’t scared of her, but her furious face had rattled him a little. Cassie could be a small ball of angry when it came to injustice but her eyes had a glint to them that he didn’t see often…

 

“I’m going to speak with him.” She said.

 

Sam grabbed her arms gently and whispered, “Cassie, don’t.”

 

“I will stay with you as long as you need me but I’m not going to stand by and let him speak to you like that.” Her voice had softened but he could still the the anger burning in her eyes, their usual forest green had become dark, almost blackened around the edges.

 

“But-”

 

“No one talks about your mum.” She said sternly, he sniffed and nodded. “Wait here, I’ll be back soon, I promise.”

 

And with that she strode out, leaving Sam frozen in place as he contemplated just how much worse his best friend could make this awkward and painful situation for him. If only she didn’t have such a  talent for it…

 

~

 

Cassie thumped her fist on Markus’ bedroom door as hard as she could, it left an ache in her knuckles but she ignored it, she had to be strong. Her target pulled the door open with a huff and looked down on her with annoyance.

 

“What?” He grunted.

 

“What did you say to Sam?” Cassie snarled, pushing her face up as close to his as he could.

 

He took a step back with a single raised brow, “Are you squaring up to me?” he growled.

 

“The fuck are you gonna do if I am?” She said. He glared at her and opened his mouth but she wasn’t going to let him take over, she pushed her way in and shut the door behind her. “How could you hurt Sam like that?!” She exclaimed angrily. “He is pure and kind and-”

 

“I didn’t do anything, he just freaked!” Markus shouted.

 

“You talked about his mum!” She practically spat the words at him like venom, her own version of alpha voice. Markus froze for a moment, much to Cassie’s enjoyment, he should feel shocked at what he’d done! He stared off to the side with a look of confusion and then trained his eyes back on her.

 

“I called Karliah his ‘mommy’ because she’s always fighting his battles for him,” He said slowly before adding much more hastily, “I would never talk about Sam’s parents like that!” with an offended expression.

 

A long pause sat between them.

 

“For real?” Cassie asked suspiciously.

 

“For real, I would never.”

 

“You swear?” She squinted at him as hard as she could with her mouth scrunched.

 

“Jesus, Cassie, we lived together for sixteen years and you think I’d do something like that?”

 

“You’ve proven you would do a lot of shitty things in the last year, Markus.” She said, “Also, even if you didn’t talk about his mum, you were still rude to him, and about my mate!” she waved a finger at him angrily. Who was he to talk about her mate like that? Or her best friend? He should just keep his mouth shut about everyone and everything!

 

“Well… yeah, but…”

 

“Karliah would never speak to me the way you do to Sam,” Cassie said softly, trying a different approach, an open and honest one. She and Markus had never considered each other friends, but she hoped he could feel her sincerity when she spoke from her heart and treated him as an equal. Maybe he would realise this was how he needed to communicate with Sam. “and if she made me cry like Sam is right now she would do anything to make up for it. You need to get your shit together or you won’t have a mate to speak down to for much longer.” She stared into his gold eyes and tried her best to only look half as angry as she felt.

 

“Thanks for the advice,” He growled, “but I don’t think my love life is any of your business.”

 

“I’m making it my business.” Cassie stated sternly and stalked back to the door, hesitating in the frame to add, “Karliah will be hearing about this, just so you know.”

 

“I’m not scared of biceps Barbie.” He grumbled sulkily. Cassie looked him up and down slowly, and with obvious disbelief, this man was delirious if he thought he could take her mate on hand-to-hand… maybe if he was armed… with a missile launcher…

 

“She would snap you in half, alpha arse-munch.” She replied.

 

“You’re in my house, munchkin, don’t forget that.” He said darkly.

 

Cassie squinted at him the same way her mother did to her when she was about to say ‘who the fuck do you think you’re talking to?’ but left it at that and slammed the door behind her.

 

~

 

Sam was passive-aggressively chopping sweet potatoes and carrots when a knock on the kitchen door drew him from his thoughts, he paused with his knife hovering over the veg, whoever had knocked didn’t need to be told to come in, the kitchen door was always open. After a few seconds of silence, he dropped the sharp tool and turned curiously. Markus leant against the doorway looking uncomfortable. They stared at each other, Sam expectantly and Markus sheepishly.

 

Finally, Sam folded his arms over his chests and broke the silence, “Sir?” he raised his brows with far more confidence than he felt, in fact his eye-lids still stung from the tears he had spent all afternoon shedding.

 

“Did… did Cassie tell you about what I actually meant?” Markus asked quietly.

 

“When you asked if I was going to ‘sic my mommy on you’?” Sam couldn’t believe how well he was holding himself together… Maybe he would make a good alpha mate yet! He pushed the unexpected thought away, those ideas buried themselves in and rotted you from the inside with poisonous hope. He was tired of fake hope. In face, he was tired of this conversation. “Yeah, she told me what you actually meant.”

 

“Yeah, I just,” Shifting from foot to foot, Markus actually looked slightly embarrassed, it seems Cassie had really given him a bollocking if she could reduce him to a timid teenager… or maybe Karliah had called him, she was definitely the scariest person Sam knew - he regularly thanked the Goddess that they were friends… “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for making you upset, even if I didn’t actually say what you thought I d-”

 

“Thanks.” Sam cut him off and gave him a tight-lipped smile to let him know he could leave now, he couldn’t make it any more obvious with his body language how much he wanted to do so.

 

Markus nodded awkwardly and left.

 

Maybe he should have given Markus more of a chance to explain himself... he thought as he returned to his duties, but then, maybe he was tired of giving Markus chances.

 

~

 

Aminali, Sam, Cassie and Karliah sat on a collection of squashed together tables to eat their packed lunches, Karliah devouring hers like a vacuum cleaner hoovering up her salad. Aminali picked at her stir-fry, pushing noodles around her tupperware box.

 

All four of their heads snapped up when the classroom door opened and a familiar pair of blonds entered, Alexa with her hand on Jasper’s lower back and both their bags slung over her shoulder.

 

“So this is where Karliah has been hiding my mate from me all this time.” She commented with a grin.

 

Karliah laughed, “It’s not my fault he has a thing for blonde women!” she said as the pair settled in on the table beside Sam. Jasper snorted but said nothing, Cassie assumed it was because he knew it was true.

 

“Is that because he is one himself?” Aminali asked, waving around a piece of red pepper sassily. Cassie could tell she was really focusing on Alexa though, eyeing her up and analysing her, Jasper was one of Aminali’s best friends after all, she needed to keep an eye on his mate.

 

“Stop trying to force toxic masculinity on me,” Said Jasper, “it’s not going to happen!” he looked her up and down slowly and flicked his hair dismissively. “I am perfectly comfortable in my body and my sexuality so you can kiss my adorable arse.” Alexa grinned proudly beside him as she pulled out their lunches.

 

“You’re right, I’m sorry.” Aminali pouted with her lip hanging out like a window ledge and he waved her off with another snort. “I’m Aminali, by the way, Jasper’s BEST friend.” She winked at Alexa and Alexa winked back. Cassie was glad they were sat at polar opposites of the semi-circle and could evaluate each other as much as they wanted from their positions, Aminali was terrible for blatantly staring at people, at least this would be less obvious.

 

“You’ve met Cassie and Sam before.” Karliah added.

 

“You mean your trouble-making mate and her dear friend?”

 

“You know them well.” Karliah grinned and Cassie rolled her eyes, wasn’t her mate supposed to defend her?

 

Jasper had sat beside Sam with Alexa on his other side so that the line-up was now: Aminali - Cassie - Karliah - Sam - Jasper - Alexa. They continued to eat, throwing out the occasional comment on the tastiness of their food until the door opened a second time and they all lifted their heads curiously again to see who else was joining them.

 

Hanmi stepped in slowly, her face tinged slightly pink and her hands gripping her bag tightly, Cassie wondered if she was intimidated by a second dominant joining them - Alexa could be quite scary when she towered over you, she was almost as tall as Karliah and easily as muscled although she dressed more modestly, so maybe the added layers made her look thicker…

 

“Hanmi!” Aminali cried happily, “Girl, I was wondering where y-” she froze, her mouth held in a delicate circle. In fact, everyone was holding themselves in position as another figure slipped into the room behind their friend.

 

“Damien,” Karliah was the first to shake off the shock, “what a nice surprise.” she said.

 

Damien shifted awkwardly from foot to foot in front of them, he looked like a small child giving a presentation to his peers as they all stared at him from their half-circle.

 

He cleared his throat quietly, “Hey, alpha.” he managed. Hanmi smiled weakly at his side, Cassie thought she looked on the verge of pleading. Thankfully, her mate took charge of the tension.

 

“I’m not sure who needs introducing but everyone, this is Damien, my beta.” Karliah nodded to him encouragingly and he gave a tight but grateful smile.

 

“And Hanmi’s mate!” Aminali added enthusiastically.

 

“Hello.” Was all Damien managed to mumble but Hanmi still looked as though she were positively glowing at the progress.

 

They took a seat together with Hanmi beside Aminali and Damien on the end. Aminali couldn’t seem to work out who she wanted to dissect with her eyes first: Alexa or Damien, her head swivelled back and forth with such vigour that her box braids flicked Cassie and Hanmi in the ears and cheeks, one after the other, back and forth. Cassie grabbed Aminali’s ear and turned her head to look into her eyes and give her a warning look. They were all excited but there was plenty of time yet to interrogate their friend’s mates and if Aminali went in too strong too quickly, as she was prone to do, it could scare Damien off, he already looked pretty damn skittish. Aminali smiled innocently in reply but at least now she managed to keep her head still without assistance.

 

“You’ve met Cassie and Alexa at home,” Karliah continued, “Aminali and Hanmi are in the same pack so I’m sure you have either heard of her or just plain heard her,” Aminali grinned a little scarily but managed to hold her tongue. “so I think it’s really only Sam we would need to introduce-”

 

“We’ve met, actually, thanks.” Damien said, a little too sharply.

 

Cassie tilted her head with a confused look at Sam who wouldn’t meet her eyes, Karliah blinked with an expression of bewilderment but said nothing and Aminali, whose superpower was the ability to smell gossip from a five-mile radius, was practically vibrating in her seat. Cassie gave her another sharp look and she managed to hold her tongue.

 

“Moving on,” Alexa said in a sing-song voice, “what’ve you young’uns been up to today?” she winked at Cassie cheekily and the sub stuck her tongue out in reply.

 

“You’re only a year older than us!” Jasper complained.

 

Alexa smiled down at him, “And yet, so much wiser.” she said, and flicked his forehead.

 

“That’s not saying much for some of these goof balls.” Karliah laughed.

 

Aminali pulled a face, “Why is it that I can almost guarantee she’s referring to me right now?” she asked.

 

“You’re becoming self-aware.” Said Karliah, pointing a stick of celery at her like a laser pointer.

 

Aminali posed prettily and batted her eyelashes, “The only thing I’m aware of is how awesome I am.” she replied.

 

Cassie looked between them with a baffled expression a few times before interjecting, “I feel like there should be more things you’re aware of.”

 

“Like global warming?” Suggested Jasper.

 

“Sure.”

 

Alexa turned to Karliah, “It’s a good thing they’re so cute.” she laughed, Karliah joined in and Damien finally cracked his first smile.

 

~

 

“I have a random question,” Cassie began, twirling her hair between her fingers. “and feel free to tell me to bugger off if it’s too personal-”

 

“Bugger off.” Charles said with a grin.

 

“Hey!” Cassie laughed, “You don’t know what the question is yet!” she stepped towards the island to lean towards him, bracing her elbows on the counter.

 

Sam kept his eye on the oven timer, it hadn’t been long since his apple pie had gone in, Cassie and Charles had both helped him make it so he wanted it to come out perfect. The kitchen was becoming his favourite place to relax the more time Cassie and Charles spent there with him, not just because he got help with his chores but it was the only time he could spend time with other people and the alpha/beta/omega dynamics didn’t apply, he was a normal person, just like them.

 

“From previous experience with your ‘random’ questions,” Charles cut into his thoughts like he had through the apples, “I can almost guarantee this is going to be something in relation to me being ‘like, really hella old’.” his impression of Cassie was spot-on and brought a small smile to Sam’s lips.

 

“I don’t talk like that!” Cassie laughed.

 

“You do sometimes.”

 

“I started saying ‘hella’ ironically and now I can’t stop,” She admitted, “it’s not my fault!” she laughed with her head in her hands.

 

“Was I right, though?” Charles chuckled, “Does your question have anything to do with me being past the average expiration date?” he asked.

 

“Well…”

 

“Cassie!” Sam gasped, she was almost as nosey as Aminali.

 

“I was just wondering if you had ever been married?” Cassie asked and Sam’s mouth fell open half-way, she was really pushing her own limits of shamelessness today. “Having been on this planet so long I thought it would be weird for you to have been single the whole time-”

 

“Cassie!” Sam snapped angrily, he had never spoken to her like that before, he was almost shaking with frustration, and yet she barely seemed to notice. She had yet to look away from Charles whose face was frozen in his mild-smile he used on Markus and the other dominants, polite but emotionless.

 

“-only because you’re kind-of handsome and charming, or so I’ve heard.” She gave Sam a pointed look and his eyes widened embarrassedly, he had told her that in confidence! Not that it was weird, Charles is handsome, it would be weird if he didn’t notice it, then he’d need to see an optician…

 

“I’m so sorry, Charles.” Sam whispered. “You don’t have to answer that.”

 

“It’s fine, Sam, I don’t mind answering.” He reassured, giving him a kind smile. “I have to admit, that did catch me off guard.” When he turned back to Cassie he sighed quietly and she had the grace to look at least moderately sheepish.

 

“I wasn’t trying to be rude, I was just curious.” Cassie mumbled, she suddenly looked even smaller than usual.

 

“It’s honestly fine, it’s a normal question to ask people regardless of their age.” He kept trying to smile at her but it looked a little pained, he kept his eyes on Cassie as he answered, “I’m actually a widow.” he said. Sam winced and looked down at the island awkwardly, he cursed Cassie and her big mouth in his head.

 

“I’m so sorry for your loss.” Cassie said sincerely.

 

“Thank you, with every year that passes it gets that little bit easier to acknowledge,” Charles said slowly, “I suppose that’s the hardest part about falling in love with a vampire,” Sam raised his head, “you assume they’ll be with you forever so when something happens you have to deal with the shock before you even begin to grieve.” he watched Charles carefully but saw no anger, he just kept smiling his sad smile.

 

“Were you together a long time?” Cassie asked.

 

“We dated for a couple of years, were married for twenty-eight… so approximately three decades together.”

 

“Damn.”

 

“Damn indeed,” Charles nodded. “but would I change anything? Absolutely not, I married my best friend and I loved every moment we shared.” Sam tried to smile reassuringly at him.

 

“So did you have, like, a civil partnership?” Cassie continued, always the curious little cat.

 

“No,” Charles said slowly, confusion clouding his voice. “we were married.”

 

“I thought gay marriage only just got legalised for humans?”

 

“I was married to a woman, Cassie.”

 

“Oh,” Her mouth held the shape of the ‘o’ for a painfully long ten seconds before she managed to find something to say, “I just- I got this feeling from you- I thought you were…” she was struggling to piece together a coherent sentence and as much as Sam wanted to help save her from the train wreck that was this conversation, he had no idea what the verbal equivalent of the jaws of life was. Luckily, Charles seemed to be enjoying her stammering, Sam didn’t think he had ever seen the man grin quite so widely. “My gaydar must need tuning, it’s normally fool-proof!” Cassie continued to ramble until Charles finally lifted his hands palm up to stop her.

 

“I’m bisexual.” Both subs blinked, their brains restarting as they digested the information.

 

“Ah.” Said Cassie.

 

“But I actually wasn’t aware of that when I married my wife and when I came out, we had been married for…” He squinted at thin air for a moment, “it must have been at least twenty years… I was in my mid-forties.”

 

“Did you realise a long time before you came out or did you genuinely not realise until you were that old?”

 

“I had never given it much thought before then,” He shrugged, “it wasn’t something that was even considered when I was your age, no one ever mentioned liking men so I never thought about how I felt about them.” his face had softened out of its sadness somewhat as Cassie lead him into their new-ish topic, Sam had to admit that while Cassie’s strongest skill was her ability to run her mouth into a hole, she was also almost as skilled in weaving a conversational rope to pull herself free, she might still make a powerful alpha female yet.

 

“That must have been so crazy for you!” The gold glitter in her emerald eyes sparkled with intrigue.

 

“I don’t know if that’s the word I would use,” Charles tilted his head, “but it was certainly strange, for both of us.” he smiled to himself, his eyes staring straight through Cassie’s shoulder. “Erin was so supportive of me, I never had to explain myself with her.”

 

“She sounds amazing,” Cassie said softly, “do you have any photos of her?” she leant forward with a grin.

 

“I do, although being the dinosaur that I am the majority of my photos are in albums, the real kind, not the ones on facebook, but I keep some of the more special ones in my phone too.”

 

“Do you have one of you actually at your wedding?”

 

“I do.” His smile almost seemed a little nervous as he pulled his phone out of his back pocket. “And before you ask, no it isn’t in black and white.”

 

“I wasn’t going to ask that!” Cassie complained, then turned to mouth ‘how did he know?’ behind her hand to Sam while Charles was distracted with finding the photo. Sam shook his head with a smile and a roll of his eyes, some things would never change.

 

“I only have this one of us with our families outside the church.” Charles turned the screen to face them and both subs leaned in to get a good look.

 

A small crowd of people squeezed together in front of the wooden doors and brick walls of a church in the photo, in the centre the newly-weds beamed at the camera toothily, the bride in a tea-length dress with lace sleeves and detailing around the bodice and along the hem of the skirt, the groom in a suit with a light pink carnation in his lapel. Her hair was curled up tight and adorned with an elbow-length veil, although the colours in the photo were faded Sam could still tell her hair was a chestnut-brown. The group around them seemed confused and no one was looking directly at the camera but it didn’t matter, the bride and groom grinned ahead with an energizing excitement and Sam couldn’t look away from them.

 

“I feel so dumb for being shocked that you look almost exactly the same.” Cassie laughed, ripping Sam out of his mesmerisation.

 

“Were you human there?” Sam asked.

 

“Yeah,” Charles grinned wistfully. “Erin turned me eventually because she was always worrying about me,” His smile tightened and his eyes grew melancholic, “who would have thought it should have been me worrying about her?” he sighed and took the phone back, pushing it deep into his back pocket as though he couldn’t bear to look at it.

 

“You both looked so happy.” Sam whispered.

 

“We were.”

 

“She was beautiful.” Cassie added.

 

“She was, and so was her soul.” He slid off his stool and stepped away from the island. “I think I’ve depressed the two of you enough for one day, I think I’ll take some time to myself now.”

 

“You don’t have to go,” Sam said quietly, “I like hearing about your life.” he fidgeted with his sleeves awkwardly, was what he said weird?

 

“Yeah, I didn’t mean to make you feel like you had to leave.” Cassie added sheepishly.

 

“It’s not that, I’d just like to be alone for a bit, maybe call my family back home and see how they are.” Charles explained carefully.

 

“Let us know if you need anything,” Cassie said with an understanding nod that Sam imitated. “especially company, we’d love to see more photos if you’ve got any.” Sam nodded even more enthusiastically at that, he really wanted to see more photos of Charles, especially his younger years - seeing Charles when he was their age would be the jackpot, hopefully even he had had a weird mid-puberty phase at some point in his teen years.

 

“Thank you both, you’re too kind.” Charles said politely before slipping out the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Early update this week as I'm away tomorrow! This chapter is also about a 1.5K words longer than my usual updates so hopefully that'll tide you guys over the extra day you'll be waiting next week ;)
> 
> This week's magic question: who is your favourite blond? (Karliah, Alexa or Jasper)


End file.
